How strong is your sexual desire? The SDI measures the cognitive component of desire across dyadic (interpersonal) and solitary dimensions. 14 items, about 3-5 minutes.

What Does the SDI Measure?

The SDI measures the cognitive component of sexual desire — not how often you have sex, but how often and how intensely you feel interested in it. Spector, Carey & Steinberg (1996) designed it around two relatively independent dimensions:

  • Dyadic desire: wanting sexual activity with a partner
  • Solitary desire: wanting sexual activity by yourself
These two do not always move together. You might score high on dyadic and low on solitary, or the other way around.

Scale Structure

SubscaleItemsDescription
----------:----:-------------
Dyadic8 (1-8)Partner-related desire and sexual thoughts
Solitary3 (10-12)Solo desire and self-stimulation
Auxiliary3 (9,13,14)Peer comparison, tolerance, dream frequency (unscored)

Scoring

Sum item values per subscale. Dyadic range: 0-62. Solitary range: 0-24. Higher scores = stronger desire.

Psychometrics

  • Internal consistency: Dyadic α=.86, Solitary α=.96
  • Test-retest (1 month): r=.76
  • Two-factor structure confirmed, factors correlate at r=.35

Reference

Spector, I. P., Carey, M. P., & Steinberg, L. (1996). The sexual desire inventory: Development, factor structure, and evidence of reliability. *Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy*, 22(3), 175-190.

Scoring Guide

Two-subscale sum scoring. Dyadic = Q1-8 sum (0-62). Solitary = Q10-12 sum (0-24). Q9, Q13, Q14 unscored. No reverse items. Total = Dyadic + Solitary (0-86), informational only.

Result Interpretation

Finish the 14 questions and you get your results straight away — no account, no sign-up, no waiting.

We calculate your total from your answers, then give you a plain-language explanation of what the numbers mean. Where a test has sub-scales, each dimension gets its own score. Whenever possible, we also show how your results compare to population norms.

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