Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 1980, Vol. 48, No. 5, 662-664 Reliability and Validity of the Sensation-Seeking Scale: Psychometric Problems in Form V Doreen Ridgeway and James A. Russell University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada Psychometric properties of Zuckerman's Sensation-Seeking Scale (SSS; Form V) were examined in a sample of 336 Canadians (181 females and 155 males). The SSS total score was moderately reliable (a = .75), but the subscales were only marginally so (between .48 and .69) and only moderately intercorrelated. For the females, the subscales were even less reliable (between .44 and .67) and less intercorrelated (rs between .02 and .27); even the total score was only marginally reliable (.68). Significant but small correlations of the SSS were obtained for both males (r = .19) and females (r = .28) with volunteering for an experiment on what sensation seekers are denned as seeking: emotionally arousing stimuli. Early versions of Zuckerman's (1978) Sensa- tion-Seeking Scale (SSS) suffered from problems of low reliability and inconsistent evidence regarding validity (see Mehrabian & Russell, 1973). However, Zuckerman, Eysenck, and Eysenck (1978) recently reported that the latest version, Form V, showed good psychometric properties. Males and females from both England and America yielded high estimates of reliability and the same reliable factor structure of four moderately intercorrelated factors: Thrill and Adventure Seeking (TAS), Experience Seeking (ES), Disinhibition (DIS), and Boredom Suscep- tibility (BS). In the course of investigating the relationships among affect, psychophysiological responses, and arousal seeking, we have come across psychometric difficulties with even this latest version of the SSS. Method All students (N = 391) attending various psychology courses responded to a series of questionnaires during class time. Those with in- complete data were eliminated from the sample, leaving 336 subjects (181 females, 155 males). Each subject described his or her state level of affect (how you feel "right now") on Mehrabian and Russell's (1974) scales of pleasure, arousal, and dominance. They next responded to Form V We are grateful to Everett Waters and Nicole Clement for their help on this study. Requests for reprints should be sent to James A. Russell, Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada V6T 1Y7. of the SSS and then to the trait versions of the same affect scales (how you feel "most of the time"). Each subject was asked on a final sheet to volunteer for a study 1 on the "physiological correlates of emotional stimuli." It was explained that the "research was concerned with the psychophysiological examination of various -levets-ofarousal." This wording wa~s expected to "maximize the relationship between volunteering and the SSS, since emotionally arousing stimuli are exactly what sensation seekers are defined as seeking. Results Mean SSS scores were 20.75 (SD = 6.11) for the males and 18.92 (SD = 4.81) for the females, which correspond to T scores of 50 and 51, respectively, in the normative data. Our males scored higher than females on the total score (p < .01), DIS (p < .01),BS(p < .01), and TAS scales (p < . 10). Our sample thus appeared quite similar to Zuckerman's (1977) normative sample for Form V. Cronbach's (1951) measure of internal consis- tency reliability, coefficient alpha, is presented in Table 1 for the total score and the subscales of the SSS. The total score was moderately reliable, but the subscales were only marginally so (.48 to .69). Reliabilities for males were similar to those for the total sample, but reliabilities were consis- tently lower for females: .68 for the total score and between .44 and .67 for the subscales. Intercorre- 1 This study was carried out to examine psychophys- iological correlates of sensation-seeking tendency. Results are given by Ridgeway (1978). Copyright 1980 by the American Psychological Association, Inc. 0022-006X/80/4805-0662S00.75 662