The moderated mediation effect of emotion dysregulation and stress reactivity on the relationship between childhood maltreatment and self-efficacy for avoiding sexual behaviors

摘要

The ability to refuse unprotected sexual behavior is a skill that could prevent a number of negative health outcomes, including HIV/AIDS infection and transmission. The present study uniquely adds to the extant literature by investigating the effects of stress reactivity (indexed by cardiac reactivity) and emotion dysregulation on self-efficacy in avoiding potentially risky sexual behaviors among women. Participants were a sample of 60 women age 18-25 years, oversampled for a history of childhood maltreatment (40 women reported a history of physical, emotional and/or sexual abuse or neglect). Findings indicated that emotion dysregulation mediated the relationship between severity of childhood maltreatment and self-efficacy for avoidance of sexual activities, but only for women who also showed high stress reactivity. These results suggest that women with a history of childhood maltreatment, and in particular those who are highly reactive to stress, would potentially benefit from prevention programs for risky sexual activities that aim to reduce emotion dysregulation.View full textDownload full textKeywordsemotional vulnerabilities, risky sexual behaviors, childhood abuse, sexual abuse, cardiovascular reactivity, sexual behaviorsRelated var addthis_config = { ui_cobrand: "Taylor & Francis Online", services_compact: "citeulike,netvibes,twitter,technorati,delicious,linkedin,facebook,stumbleupon,digg,google,more", pubid: "ra-4dff56cd6bb1830b" }; Add to shortlist Link Permalink http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14681994.2012.736023