title: Childhood maltreatment, psychological dysregulation, and risky sexual behaviors in female adolescents.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Maltreated female adolescents are at risk for engaging in sexual behaviors consistent with HIV infection and teen pregnancy. The current study applied a model positing the key role of psychological dysregulation in the development of adolescent females' sexual behavior.
  
  
  METHODS
  The sample consisted of adolescent females aged 14-17 years who had experienced substantiated childhood maltreatment (n = 275) and a demographically matched, non-maltreated comparison group (n = 210).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Multiple mediator analysis revealed that, when in company with a host of plausible mechanisms, sexual preoccupation mediated the relationship between psychological dysregulation and risky sexual behaviors.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Maltreated females may have difficulty regulating emotions, cognitions, and behaviors, which, when coupled with a propensity to entertain sexual thoughts and consume sexually explicit materials, may increase the likelihood that they act on sexual impulses and engage in high-risk sexual behaviors.
authors.affiliation: University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH 45229-3039, USA. jennie.noll@cchmc.org
authors.forename: Jennie G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Noll
authors.forename: Katherine J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Haralson
authors.forename: Erica M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Butler
authors.forename: Chad E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Shenk
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000523:psychology*; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011253:Pregnancy in Adolescence; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000523:psychology