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The Index of Consensual Sexual Sadism (ICSS): Scale Development,
Validation, Measurement Invariance, and Nomological Network
Comparisons With Everyday Sadism
Charlotte Kinrade
1
, William Hart
2
, Danielle E. Wahlers
2
, Braden T. Hall
2
, and Joshua T. Lambert
2
1
Department of Psychological Science, Kennesaw State University
2
Department of Psychology, University of Alabama
Sexual sadism has long been of interest to scholars and clinicians in psychology, and most research on sexual
sadism has focused on forensic samples. However, recently, research has uncovered the existence of sexual
sadism in general populations. Measures designed to assess sexual sadism in the general population are
lacking. To address this gap, we created the Index of Consensual Sexual Sadism (ICSS) and performed some
initial psychometric testing of its structure, measurement invariance, validity (e.g., distinguishment from
everyday sadism), and reliability. In this preregistered study, separate samples of community adults and
undergraduates (N=1,391; M
age
=24.21, SD
age
=10.92, range
age
=18–85; 68.40% female; 76.10% White)
completed the ICSS and measures of sadistic pleasure in sexual and nonsexual contexts, normal personality
traits (HEXACO), personality disordertraits, antagonistic personality features (e.g., psychopathy), frequency
of sadistic sexual fantasies, romantic relationship satisfaction, and social desirability. The ICSS demonstrated
a unidimensional structure that was invariant across the tested groupings of sample type, sex, and age; in
addition, the scale had only a trivial relation to social desirability bias, and it related to the other outcomes in
a way that highlighted its construct validity and distinguished it from everyday sadism. The ICSS seems a
viable candidate for assessing consensual sexual sadism so that clinicians and researchers can begin
evaluating the full spectrum of sexual sadism.
Public Significance Statement
The Index of Consensual Sexual Sadism is a new measure designed to tap sexual sadism in the general
population. This measure allows clinicians and researchers to begin evaluating the full spectrum of
sexual sadism.
Keywords: sexual sadism, item response theory, measurement invariance, scale validation, everyday sadism
Supplemental materials: https://doi.org/10.1037/pas0001365.supp
Krafft-Ebing (1886) coined the term “sadism”to describe the
experience of sexual pleasure from causing pain, suffering, or
humiliation to others. Later, Eulenberg (1911) proposed that sexual
sadism was a form of perversion, marked by the desire to control
and dominate others. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of
Mental Disorders (DSM) has included sexual sadism as a paraphilic
disorder, but it has been reclassified through iterations of the DSM.
Throughout these iterations, the DSM’s conception of sexual sadism
faced criticism for conflating nonconsensual and consensual sexually
sadistic behaviors (R. B. Krueger, 2010). Today, the DSM-5
(American Psychiatric Association, 2013) recognizes sexual sadism
disorder as a paraphilic disorder characterized by the experience of
sexual arousal from causing pain, suffering, or humiliation to others
that manifests as fantasies and/or behaviors and is diagnosed if
This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.
This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.
This article was published Online First January 27, 2025.
Jaime L. Anderson served as action editor.
Charlotte Kinrade https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4911-2866
Preregistration documentation is publicly available on the Open
Science Framework at https://osf.io/xbs5g/. Data and materials are
publicly available on the Open Science Framework at https://osf.io/
u5y8w/. This work is based on a dissertation and funded by the College of
Arts and Sciences at the University of Alabama awarded to Charlotte
K. Cease.
Charlotte Kinrade played a lead role in conceptualization, data curation,
formal analysis, funding acquisition, methodology, project administration,
software, visualization, writing–original draft, and writing–review and
editing. William Hart played a supporting role in conceptualization,
methodology, writing–original draft, and writing–review and editing and
an equal role in supervision. Danielle E. Wahlers played a supporting role in
formal analysis, validation, writing–original draft, and writing–review and
editing. Braden T. Hall played a supportingrole in formal analysis, validation,
writing–original draft, and writing–review and editing. Joshua T. Lambert
played a supporting role in formal analysis, validation, writing–original draft,
and writing–review and editing.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Charlotte
Kinrade, Department of Psychological Science, Kennesaw State University,
402 Bartow Avenue Northwest, Kennesaw, GA 30144, United States. Email:
ccease@kennesaw.edu
Psychological Assessment
© 2025 American Psychological Association 2025, Vol. 37, No. 4, 148–160
ISSN: 1040-3590 https://doi.org/10.1037/pas0001365
148
