Abstract:
Research links early childhood adversity to sexual risk behaviors during adolescence, but little is known about whether individual differences in impulsivity can impact this association (Kovensky & Leve, 2017). Baseline data from 122 at-risk adolescent girls participating in the longitudinal “Safe, Healthy, Adolescent Relationships and Peers” (SHARP) study was analyzed to examine impulsivity as a moderator of the association between early adversity and sexual risk behaviors. Nearly two-thirds of the sample was recruited from the Department of Youth Services (DYS), and the remaining from community agencies and schools serving at-risk girls in Lane County, Oregon. Results revealed that impulsivity was not a significant moderator of the relation between adverse childhood experiences and risky sexual behaviors. Future research should investigate the same hypothesis with specific categories of adverse childhood experiences and explore the mediating role of impulsivity in better understanding the relation between early adversity and sexual risk behaviors in adolescent girls.