Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Jun 22;12(2):393-407.
doi: 10.1556/2006.2023.00028. Print 2023 Jun 29.

Compulsive sexual behavior disorder in 42 countries: Insights from the International Sex Survey and introduction of standardized assessment tools

Beáta Bőthe  1   2 Mónika Koós  3   4 Léna Nagy  3   4 Shane W Kraus  5 Zsolt Demetrovics  4   6 Marc N Potenza  7   8   9 Aurélie Michaud  2 Rafael Ballester-Arnal  10 Dominik Batthyány  11 Sophie Bergeron  12 Joël Billieux  13   14 Peer Briken  15 Julius Burkauskas  16 Georgina Cárdenas-López  17 Joana Carvalho  18   19 Jesús Castro-Calvo  20 Lijun Chen  21 Giacomo Ciocca  22 Ornella Corazza  23   24 Rita Csako  25 David P Fernandez  26 Elaine F Fernandez  27 Loïs Fournier  13 Hironobu Fujiwara  28   29   30 Johannes Fuss  31 Roman Gabrhelík  32   33 Ateret Gewirtz-Meydan  34 Biljana Gjoneska  35 Mateusz Gola  36   37 Joshua B Grubbs  38 Hashim T Hashim  39 Md Saiful Islam  40   41 Mustafa Ismail  39 Martha C Jiménez-Martínez  42   43 Tanja Jurin  44 Ondrej Kalina  45 Verena Klein  46 András Költő  47 Chih-Ting Lee  48 Sang-Kyu Lee  49   50 Karol Lewczuk  51 Chung-Ying Lin  52   53 Liverpool John Moores University's research team  54 Christine Lochner  55 Silvia López-Alvarado  56 Kateřina Lukavská  32   57 Percy Mayta-Tristán  58 Ionut Milea  59 Dan J Miller  60 Oľga Orosová  61 Gábor Orosz  62 Sungkyunkwan University's research team  63 Fernando P Ponce  64 Gonzalo R Quintana  65 Gabriel C Quintero Garzola  66   67 Jano Ramos-Diaz  68 Kévin Rigaud  62 Ann Rousseau  69 Marco De Tubino Scanavino  70   71   72 Marion K Schulmeyer  73 Pratap Sharan  74 Mami Shibata  28 Sheikh Shoib  75 Vera L Sigre Leirós  13   76 Luke Sniewski  77 Ognen Spasovski  78   79 Vesta Steibliene  80 Dan J Stein  81 Julian Strizek  82 Aleksandar Štulhofer  83 Berk C Ünsal  3   4 Marie-Pier Vaillancourt-Morel  1
Affiliations

Compulsive sexual behavior disorder in 42 countries: Insights from the International Sex Survey and introduction of standardized assessment tools

Beáta Bőthe et al. J Behav Addict. .

Abstract

Background and aims: Despite its inclusion in the 11th revision of the International Classification of Diseases, there is a virtual paucity of high-quality scientific evidence about compulsive sexual behavior disorder (CSBD), especially in underrepresented and underserved populations. Therefore, we comprehensively examined CSBD across 42 countries, genders, and sexual orientations, and validated the original (CSBD-19) and short (CSBD-7) versions of the Compulsive Sexual Behavior Disorder Scale to provide standardized, state-of-the-art screening tools for research and clinical practice.

Method: Using data from the International Sex Survey (N = 82,243; Mage = 32.39 years, SD = 12.52), we evaluated the psychometric properties of the CSBD-19 and CSBD-7 and compared CSBD across 42 countries, three genders, eight sexual orientations, and individuals with low vs. high risk of experiencing CSBD.

Results: A total of 4.8% of the participants were at high risk of experiencing CSBD. Country- and gender-based differences were observed, while no sexual-orientation-based differences were present in CSBD levels. Only 14% of individuals with CSBD have ever sought treatment for this disorder, with an additional 33% not having sought treatment because of various reasons. Both versions of the scale demonstrated excellent validity and reliability.

Discussion and conclusions: This study contributes to a better understanding of CSBD in underrepresented and underserved populations and facilitates its identification in diverse populations by providing freely accessible ICD-11-based screening tools in 26 languages. The findings may also serve as a crucial building block to stimulate research into evidence-based, culturally sensitive prevention and intervention strategies for CSBD that are currently missing from the literature.

Keywords: International Sex Survey (ISS); addictive behavior; assessment; compulsive sexual behavior; cross-cultural; validation.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest with the content of this manuscript. SWK discloses that he has received funding from the International Center for Responsible Gaming, MGM Resorts International, Center for the Application of Substance Abuse Technologies, Taylor Francis, Springer Nature, The Nevada Problem Gambling Project, Sports Betting Alliance, and Kindbridge Research Institute. Dr. Potenza discloses that he has consulted for and advised Game Day Data, Addiction Policy Forum, AXA, Idorsia, Baria-Tek, and Opiant Therapeutics; been involved in a patent application involving Novartis and Yale; received research support from the Mohegan Sun Casino and the Connecticut Council on Problem Gambling; consulted for or advised legal and gambling entities on issues related to impulse control and addictive behaviors; provided clinical care related to impulse-control and addictive behaviors; performed grant reviews; edited journals/journal sections; given academic lectures in grand rounds, CME events and other clinical/scientific venues; and generated books or chapters for publishers of mental health texts. The University of Gibraltar receives funding from the Gibraltar Gambling Care Foundation, an independent, not-for-profit charity. ELTE Eötvös Loránd University receives funding from Szerencsejáték Ltd. (the gambling operator of the Hungarian government) to maintain a telephone helpline service for problematic gambling. RG is the shareholder of Adiquit Ltd. which is currently developing apps for addictions recovery. VS discloses that she received funding from Lithuanian Health Promotion Fund for providing educational materials and lectures on Problematic Internet use. BB, MNP, and JB are associate editors, while ZD is the editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Behavioral Addictions.

Similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Baxter, A. J., Patton, G., Scott, K. M., Degenhardt, L., & Whiteford, H. A. (2013). Global epidemiology of mental disorders: What are we missing? Plos One, 8(6), e65514. 10.1371/JOURNAL.PONE.0065514. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bőthe, B., Bartók, R., Tóth-Király, I., Reid, R. C., Griffiths, M. D., Demetrovics, Z., & Orosz, G. (2018). Hypersexuality, gender, and sexual orientation: A large-scale psychometric survey study. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 47(8), 2265–2276. 10.1007/s10508-018-1201-z. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Bőthe, B., Koós, M., & Demetrovics, Z. (2022). Contradicting classification, nomenclature, and diagnostic criteria of compulsive sexual behavior disorder (CSBD) and future directions ·: Commentary to the debate: “Behavioral addictions in the ICD-11. Journal of Behavioral Addictions, 11(2), 204–209. 10.1556/2006.2022.00030. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bőthe, B., Koós, M., Nagy, L., Kraus, S. W., Potenza, M. N., & Demetrovics, Z. (2021). International Sex Survey: Study protocol of a large, cross-cultural collaborative study in 45 countries. Journal of Behavioral Addictions, 10(3), 632–645. 10.1556/2006.2021.00063. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bőthe, B., Potenza, M. N., Griffiths, M. D., Kraus, S. W., Klein, V., Fuss, J., & Demetrovics, Z. (2020). The development of the Compulsive Sexual Behavior Disorder Scale (CSBD-19): An ICD-11 based screening measure across three languages. Journal of Behavioral Addictions, 9(2), 247–258. 10.1556/2006.2020.00034. - DOI - PMC - PubMed