Construction and Validation of Emotional Responses to Sexual Infidelity Scale – ERSIS

This study describes the construction and initial validation of the “Emotional Responses to Sexual Infidelity Scale” (ERSIS). The construct validity was assessed by exploratory factor analysis, using the methods of the main components and Varimax rotation. The final solution includes seven factors that explained 57.21% of the variance. Within the confirmatory factor analysis, three models were analyzed: a model with seven uncorrelated factors, a model with seven correlated factors and a model with six uncorrelated factors. The values of absolute indicators of the final scale, with 27 items, emphasized the superiority of the model with seven uncorrelated factors: sadness, dread, anger, pain, fear, jealousy and guilt. The exploration of the convergent validity of the ERSIS showed significant correlations between the scores of this scale and other four scales used to measure emotional responses. The results suggest that the scale can provide a valid measure for emotional responses to sexual infidelity.