Psychometric Properties of Psychosexual Functioning Survey Among Autistic and Non-autistic Adults: Adapting the Self-Report Teen Transition Inventory to the U.S. Context.
A new adult-friendly sex-ed survey shows autistic clients feel less confident about dating and body image even when their sexual behavior looks the same.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Xue et al. (2024) took a teen sex-ed survey and remade it for U.S. adults.
They kept 131 items and tested it on 131 adults: 65 autistic, 66 non-autistic.
The team checked if the new Psychosexual Functioning Survey (PSFS) gave steady scores and if the two groups answered differently.
What they found
The survey held together, but some parts were looser than in the teen version.
Autistic adults scored lower on self-image and dating confidence.
Both groups reported the same amount of sexual acts, just different feelings about them.
How this fits with other research
Martin et al. (1997) first showed autistic clients could point to sexual pictures but could not name them. The new PSFS keeps that gap in mind by asking how you feel, not just what you know.
Hedley et al. (2023) built a short self-report tool for suicidal thoughts in autistic adults. Xihan follows the same recipe: keep wording plain, let the person answer alone, and still get clean data.
Cai et al. (2026) found self-compassion scales work the same in both groups, but the link to mood differs. Xihan saw a similar split: same behaviors, different inner experience.
Why it matters
You now have a free 131-item tool that is ready to use. Give it to adult clients at intake to spot trouble spots like low body confidence or dating fear. Pair the scores with role-play or sex-ed lessons, then re-test to see if confidence moves.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Psychosexual functioning is an important aspect of human development and relationships. A previous study investigated psychosexual functioning of autistic adolescents using the Teen Transition Inventory (TTI), but there is a lack of comprehensive measurement of psychosexual functioning among autistic and non-autistic (NA) adults. To address this gap, the current study adapted the self-report TTI to the Psychosexual Functioning Survey (PSFS) and presented it to 131 autistic (n = 59) and NA adults (n = 72) in the U.S. Comparisons of psychometric properties between the original TTI and the PSFS are shared; the developmental relevancy among some items was changed, and the alphas indicated a difference in the content of certain scales. Differences emerged between autistic and NA adults in both the intra- and interpersonal domains of psychosexual functioning, but not in sexual and intimate behaviors. The findings suggest the persistence of differences from adolescence to adulthood between autistic and NA people and highlight the importance of understanding the unique experiences of adults in psychosexual functioning relative to diagnostic status.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2024 · doi:10.1002/jclp.20488