The sexual shame test provided by PsycTest uses the professional Kely Inventory of Sexual Shame (KISS-9) for assessment. Learn how sexual shame affects your self-perception and relationships. Take the test now and start your journey of self-discovery!
Do you feel unspeakable shame about your sexual thoughts, actions, or experiences? Do you often blame yourself deep down and feel like you’re not ‘good enough’ when it comes to sex? Sexual shame is a complex and pervasive emotional experience that can profoundly impact our self-perception, relationships, and even mental health. PsycTest (psyctest.cn) provides you with the professional KISS-9 Sexual Shame Scale online test to help you understand yourself deeply, explore the roots of sexual shame, and better accept yourself.
What is sexual shame?
Sexual shame refers to the emotion of feeling ashamed about one’s own thoughts, behaviors, or experiences related to sex. This sense of shame is often accompanied by strong self-blame and negative evaluation, and the feeling that one is defective and unworthy of acceptance and recognition. Sexual shame can stem from a variety of factors, including negative sexual experiences, unhealthy sexual beliefs, and sociocultural pressures.
Here are some factors that can lead to sexual shame:
- Negative sexual experiences: for example, childhood sexual abuse, unhealthy sex education, non-consensual sex.
- Self-blame: Frequently blaming yourself for sexual thoughts or actions.
- Body shaming: Disgust and lack of acceptance of one’s own body.
- Sexual identity uncertainty: Confusion and discomfort about one’s sexual orientation or gender identity.
- Cultural influence: Social and cultural attitudes towards sex will affect an individual’s experience of sexual shame. In Chinese culture, sexual shame is often closely linked to sexual morality.
Sexual Shame vs. Guilt: What’s the Difference?
In our daily lives, we can confuse feelings of shame and guilt. Although both are negative emotions, their nature and impact are significantly different:
- Guilt: is the feeling of “what I did”, focusing on the act itself. Feelings of guilt often prompt an individual to apologize or seek correction.
-Shame: is a feeling of ‘who am I’, directed towards the self. Shame is more painful than guilt because it involves an overall negative evaluation of the self. Shame is more likely to lead to withdrawal and avoidance behaviors.
Related Tests: Guilt and Shame Tendency Test
KISS-9 Scale: A Scientific Assessment of Your Level of Sexual Shame
In order to more accurately assess an individual’s degree of sexual shame, psychologists developed the Kely Inventory of Sexual Shame Scale (KISS, full name: Kely Inventory of Sexual Shame). This test uses the revised KISS-9 scale, which is streamlined after rigorous psychometric testing based on the original 20-item KISS scale. This scale can effectively assess an individual’s sexual shame.
The revised KISS-9 scale contains 9 items that can effectively assess an individual’s sexual shame. The KISS-9 scale is scored on a 6-point Likert scale ranging from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree.” The higher the total score, the greater the sexual shame.
The origin and revision of the KISS-9 scale
The original KISS scale consists of 20 items and was developed by Kyle in 2013. However, research suggests that some items in this scale may be less suitable for understanding sexual shame in the Chinese context. In order to better apply to the Chinese population, the researchers revised the KISS scale.
During the revision process, the researcher deleted 11 problematic items and retained 9 items through exploratory factor analysis. The deleted items include:
- ‘I feel ashamed to have sex with people when I didn’t want to do it.’
- ‘I am ashamed of myself for having sex that was not completely consensual.’
- ‘I am ashamed of myself for having affairs/infidelity/promiscuity.’
- ‘I’m ashamed of my attraction to people of the same sex.’
The revised KISS-9 scale improves the reliability and validity of the scale while retaining the unidimensional structure of the original scale.
KISS-9 is more in line with Chinese culture. If you want to take the KISS full version scale (20 questions) test, you can click on the Kely Sexual Shame Scale (Inventory of Sexual Shame, KISS) full version online test to participate in the test.
Reliability and validity of KISS-9 scale
Research shows that the revised KISS-9 scale has good reliability and validity and is suitable for measuring sexual shame among Chinese adults. The internal consistency reliability Cronbach’s α coefficient of this scale is 0.896, indicating that it has high reliability. The validity of the KISS-9 scale was also confirmed through a calibration validity test with scales such as moral objection to pornographic materials and face value.
Specifically, sexual shame scores were found to be moderately positively related to moral disapproval of pornographic material, meaning that greater experiences of sexual shame were associated with higher moral disapproval of pornographic material. In addition, sexual shame scores were also moderately positively correlated with the dimensions of “wanting face” and “fear of losing face,” indicating that a stronger sexual shame experience is related to a greater fear of losing face and a greater desire to gain face.
The Impact of Sexual Shame: A Mental Health Issue That Can’t Be Ignored
Sexual shame can have a variety of negative impacts on an individual’s physical, mental, and interpersonal health:
- Mental health: Sexual shame is closely related to psychological problems such as low self-esteem, depression, and anxiety.
- Interpersonal relationships: Sexual shame can lead to difficulties in interpersonal communication and difficulty in establishing intimate relationships.
-Sex life: Sexual shame will affect sexual satisfaction, leading to sexual dysfunction, sexual avoidance and other problems. - Self-evaluation: Sexual shame can cause individuals to have a negative evaluation of their body and sexual identity, affecting their sense of self-identity.
-Behavioral patterns: Sexual shame may lead to avoidance or overcompensating behavioral patterns.
PsycTest: Know your level of sexual shame
PsycTest (psyctest.cn) is committed to providing users with professional and scientific psychological assessment tools. This test can give you an initial idea of your level of sexual shame.
Shame has been described as an ’extremely painful, contagious emotion.’ It’s different from feeling bad or upset about a behavior because it involves how you feel about yourself as a person. You may notice a desire to hide certain aspects of yourself, and sometimes even to isolate yourself from others. Here are some statements related to sexual shame that may or may not describe how you are feeling right now. There are 6 evaluation scales for the options. Please give the answer you most agree with for each statement.
The test results will be presented in the form of a total score, and corresponding analysis and suggestions will be given. Please note that this test is only a preliminary assessment and does not constitute a professional psychological diagnosis. If you feel confused or need further help after the test, it is recommended to consult a professional psychological counselor.
How to interpret test results
The test results rank your level of sexual shame into the following categories:
- Low sexual shame: Indicates that you may have a healthier self-awareness and acceptance of sex.
- Moderate sexual shame: Indicates that you may occasionally feel sexual-related shame.
- High sexual shame: Indicates that you may often feel intense sexual shame.
Each level is accompanied by detailed analysis to help you gain insight into your situation.
Important: Remember, sexual shame can be understood and overcome. Through self-exploration and seeking professional help, we can establish healthier sexual concepts and accept ourselves as we are.
Click the ‘Start Test’ button below to start the KISS-9 Sexual Shame Scale test to understand your level of sexual shame. PsycTest (psyctest.cn) explores the mysteries of the soul with you and promotes personal growth.
