Sexual Victimization, Alcohol Intoxication, and Sexual Abdication: The Roles of Impulse Control and Goal-Directed Behavior Emotion Regulation Difficulties in the Context of Negative and Positive Mood

Sexual trauma, such as childhood sexual abuse (CSA) and adolescent and adult sexual assault (ASA), is associated with sexual abdication – letting a partner decide how far to go sexually – which contributes to condom nonuse. Difficulties with emotion regulation related to goal-directed behavior and impulsivity when distressed are associated with risky sexual behaviors. The cumulative effects of multiple sexual traumas (i.e. CSA, ASA) may influence emotion regulation and sexual risk-taking. Additionally, alcohol intoxication may also disrupt emotion regulation processes. This study leverages an alcohol administration design with mood induction to examine how sexual trauma predicts impulse control and goal-directed behavior emotion regulation difficulties and sexual abdication intentions in the context of acute intoxication and negative or positive mood. Cisgender female non-problem drinkers (N = 484; Mage = 24.98, SD = 2.65) completed surveys assessing emotion regulation difficulties and CSA and ASA victimization. Participants were randomized to beverage condition [control (BrAC = .00) vs. alcohol (BrAC = .08%gm)] and mood induction (negative vs. positive mood). Participants projected themselves into a scenario depicting a sexual encounter and reported their sexual abdication intentions. Survivors of CSA + ASA reported greater abdication intentions via impulse control and goal-directed behavior emotion regulation difficulties relative to other participants. Impulse control difficulties were positively associated with abdication intentions among those experiencing negative moods. Multiple sexual traumas across the lifespan may contribute to difficulties regulating impulsive actions when distressed and subsequent sexual abdication. Treatment of sexual trauma should include strategies to promote sexual health.