Multidimensional Sexuality Questionnaire (MSQ)
A 60-item profile covering 12 dimensions of sexual psychology
The MSQ maps your sexual psychological tendencies across 12 dimensions. No total score — just a profile. For adults 18+, takes about 8-10 minutes.
Twelve separate threads, one profile
Sexuality isn't a single dial. Confidence, desire, anxiety, how much room sex takes up in your head, how much you feel in charge of it — these move independently. The same person can sit high on one and low on the next.
The MSQ (Multidimensional Sexuality Questionnaire, Snell, Fisher & Walters, 1993) was built to keep them apart. Sixty items cover 12 tendencies, five items each: sexual esteem, preoccupation, motivation, anxiety, assertiveness, depression, satisfaction, consciousness, monitoring, internal sexual control, external sexual control, and fear of sexual relations. Each statement is rated 1-5 on how much it sounds like you.
There's no total score, and that's on purpose. What you get back is a profile: which of the 12 run high, which run low, and how they sit next to each other.
About the scale
Snell and colleagues published the MSQ in Annals of Sex Research. Each subscale sums to 5-25, and items 19, 31, 47 and 59 are reverse-scored. A Mandarin version has been validated with subscale alphas of .900-.931 (Tao et al., 2012), and subscale scores stay largely independent of social desirability — which matters when the subject is sex.
Written for adults 18 and over. This is a self-understanding tool, not a diagnosis.
Result Interpretation
After completing the 60 questions, you'll receive an immediate, detailed report with:
- Your score — calculated automatically based on your responses
- Score interpretation — what your score means in practical terms
- Dimension breakdown — separate scores for each sub-scale
- Context — how your results compare to general population norms where available
All results are displayed on screen. No account or login needed.