Child Maltreatment and Women’s Adult Sexual Risk Behavior: Childhood Sexual Abuse as a Unique Risk Factor

This study investigated (a) whether childhood sexual abuse (CSA) was uniquely associated with adult sexual risk behavior, after controlling for other types of childhood maltreatment and (b) whether there were additive or interactive effects of different types of maltreatment on adult sexual risk behavior. Participants were 414 women (M age = 28 years) attending a publicly funded STD clinic. All women completed a computerized survey assessing childhood maltreatment (sexual, physical, psychological abuse, and neglect) and sexual risk behavior. Analyses showed that sexual abuse, physical abuse, psychological abuse, and neglect were associated with adult sexual risk behavior. Multivariate analyses that controlled for all other forms of child maltreatment showed that only CSA was uniquely associated with adult sexual risk behavior (i.e., percentage of episodes of unprotected sex in the past 3 months and number of lifetime partners). The authors found little support for an additive or an interactive model of the effects of different types of childhood maltreatment on adult sexual risk behavior; CSA alone was the best predictor of adult sexual risk behavior. Sexual risk reduction interventions are needed for women who were sexually abused as children. Continued research on the effects of multitype maltreatment on adult sexual risk behavior is needed.