2.3.7. Sexual Risk Survey

The SRS is a 23-item questionnaire where respondents are asked to report the frequency with which they have participated in each of a range of sexual risk behaviors during the preceding 6 months, using open-ended responses. Turchik and Garske previously reported adequate internal consistency (0.90) for the full scale, and the Cronbach’s alphas for four of the five subscales, (1) sexual risk taking with uncommitted partners, (2) risky sex acts (3) impulsive sexual behaviors, and (4) intent to engage in risky sexual behaviors, are adequate as well (0.90, 0.82, 0.79, and 0.81, respectively). The internal consistency of the fifth subscale, risky anal sex acts, however, was poorer at 0.63 [68].

To calculate frequency distributions as described by Turchik and Garske [69], responses were coded into ordinal categories, ranging from 0 to 100%. Responses of zero were retained, and additional responses were recoded according to frequency: 1 = 40%; 2 = 41–70%; 3 = 71–90%; and 4 = 91–100%. Results of the confirmatory factor analyses and internal reliability estimates reported previously for this sample demonstrated adequate fit for a five-factor model and adequate estimates for four of the five factors (α = 0.778–0.930) [68]. Because reliability estimates for anal sex (α = 0.655) remained low, this subscale was excluded from the analyses.