Trauma, Temptation, and the Thrill. Childhood Trauma, Experiential Avoidance, and Sexual Promiscuity: The Mediating Role of Impulsivity

This study explores the relationship between childhood trauma, experiential avoidance (i.e. suppressing thoughts and emotions related to significant adverse events), and sexual promiscuity through the lens of sociosexuality, i.e. the degree to which an individual is inclined toward sex without emotional closeness or exclusivity. We also examined the mediating role of impulsivity in these relations using a convenience sample of 676 Romanian heterosexual adults (Mage = 24.09, SDage = 4.49). Sexual promiscuity was operationalized through sociosexuality and assessed across three dimensions: sociosexual behavior (number and frequency of casual sexual partners), sociosexual attitude (openness toward uncommitted sex), and sociosexual desire (frequency of spontaneous sexual fantasies). Results suggest that childhood trauma was associated with sociosexual desire (but not behavior or attitudes), while experiential avoidance was directly associated with sociosexual desire and attitudes. Impulsivity fully mediated the relationship between childhood trauma and sociosexual behavior and attitude, and partially mediated its effect on sociosexual desire. Impulsivity also mediated the link between experiential avoidance and all three facets of sexual promiscuity; however, unexpectedly, experiential avoidance was negatively associated with impulsivity. These findings suggest that impulsivity may be a key determinant in translating trauma and experiential avoidance into sexual promiscuity.