Abstract

Background: Sexual self-concept is an important aspect of human sexuality and his psychological structure. It contains several domains and sub scales. Multi-dimensional Sexual Self-concept Questionnaire (MSSCQ) has been designed by Professor Snell to assess Sexual self-concept, which has been used in many researches and individual evaluations. The main goal of this study is to evaluate reliability and validity of MSSCQ for Iranian general population. Methods: In a cross sectional study, the original MSSCQ has been translated-retranslated and tested for random general population. Reliability has been tested by Cronbach's alpha coefficients. Construct validity has been tested by factor analysis and the comparison between two groups and also criterion validity has been assessed due to the correlation between GHQ-28 and marital satisfaction scale. Results: Our study shows that the reliability is good for MSSCQ á=0.89. Factor analysis has introduced 28 factors in primary questions and 4 factors for subscales analysis. There has been appropriate correlation between GHQ-28 score and MSSCQ (r=-0.31, p=0.008) and a meaningful correlation between marital satisfaction and MSSCQ (r=0.3, p=0.013). Discussion: MSSCQ is a good tool for sexual self-concept assessment in Iran and therefore is appropriate for research about human sexuality in Iranian population.