Objective: Sexual myths are often exaggerated, incorrect and unscientific ideas on sexuality that people believe to be true. We know that sexual myths are important in the genesis and continuity of sexual disorders. In this study, we examined the psychometric properties of the Turkish version of the Sexual Myths Questionnaire in patients with vaginismus.
Method: This study sample consisted of 70 outpatients admitted to Erenkoy Mental Health Training and Research Hospital and Istanbul University Psychiatry Department, that received diagnosis of vaginismus according to DSM-IV criteria. Participants were administered sociodemographic data form, 90-item Symptoms Checklist (SCL-90R), Revised Eysenck Personality Questionnaire-Abbreviated, Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI), Dyadic Adjustment Scale, Snell Papini Sexuality Scale and Sexual Myths Questionnaire. Sexual myth questionnaire is aset of questions that investigate 30 common sexual myths and was proposed by Zilbergeld and previously used in some studies in Turkey. To investigate the internal consistency of the scale and its subscales, corrected item-total correlations were examined to establish the effect on the Cronbach coefficients and internal consistency of each item of the subscales. Factorial structure was investigated using principal component analysis. Reliability analysis was assessed trough convergent validity analysis.
Results: The internal consistency coefficient (Cronbach’s alpha) was 0.75. Correlations of the items individually with the myth total scores were between 0.20-0.45. Exploratory factorial analysis and varimax rotation results showed that the scale provided a four-factor structure. Additionally, we confirmed the factorial validity by identifying a four-factor structure that explained 45% of the total variance. In comparison of Sexual Myths Questionnaire with 90-item Symptoms Checklist (SCL-90R), Revised Eysenck Personality Questionnaire-Abbreviated, Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI), Dyadic Adjustment Scale, Snell Papini Sexuality Scale, we found good convergent reliability.
Conclusion: Findings with respect to internal consistency, item-total correlation, factorial structure and convergent validity for the Sexual Myths Questionnaire show that the scale is acceptable in terms of validity and reliability for the patients with vaginusmus in Turkey.