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Validation of the McCoy Female Sexuality Questionnaire in an Italian sample.

Rellini AH, Nappi RE, Vaccaro P, Ferdeghini F, Abbiati I, Meston CM

Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas.

This article presents the result of a study that translated into Italian and validated the McCoy Female Sexuality Questionnaire (MFSQ) on an Italian sample. The questionnaire was first administered to a sample of 240 Italian women (age range, 18-65 years) recruited from a gynecology clinic. A principal component analysis identified 2 factors: sexuality (9 items) and partnership (5 items). Both factors showed an adequate inter-item reliability (Cronbach's alpha of .88 and .75, respectively). The validity of the Italian MFSQ was then tested by administering the questionnaire to a sample of 16 women with sexual dysfunction and 46 control women. Sexual dysfunction diagnoses were assessed through a semi-standardized interview based on the DSM-IV-TR diagnoses for Female Sexual Arousal Disorder, Female Orgasmic Disorder, Dyspareunia, and Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder. A discriminant validity test showed significant differences between women with and without female sexual dysfunction. These results indicate that the translated version of the MFSQ is a reliable and valid measure of sexual dysfunction among Italian women. The results also indicated a difference in factor structure between the Italian and the original version of the MFSQ, which warrants further investigation.

Published 19 December 2005 in Arch Sex Behav, 34(6): 641-7.
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