The Relationship Between Adverse Childhood Experiences and Sexual Risk Behaviour: A Comparative Analysis Between Sexual Minority and Heterosexual Populations

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are traumatic life events that occur during the first 18 years of life. Past research has linked ACEs to a variety of negative life outcomes ranging from depression and anxiety related disorders to self-destructive behaviour such as alcohol/substance abuse and increased sexual risk behaviour. To investigate the relationship between ACEs, sexual risk behaviour and sexual minorities in comparison to heterosexual individuals, as well as to understand how emotion regulation can act as a protective factor in the face of ACEs: A cross-sectional analysis discussing past traumatic experiences, mental health outcomes, emotion regulation abilities and sexual risk behaviour was conducted. 280 respondents (102 male, 167 female, six non-binary, four transgender men and one individual preferring to self-describe) were considered for our data analysis. Mann-Whitney U tests examined the differences between heterosexual populations and sexual minorities in regard to ACEs, depression, anxiety, emotion regulation strategies and sexual risk behaviour. A correlational cross-scale analysis was conducted to investigate the relationship strength between each ACE variable and sexual risk behaviour in adulthood. Finally, a mediation analysis assessed how emotion regulation strategies and mental health outcomes can interact with ACEs to influence sexual risk behaviour. Through Minority Stress Theory, it is expected that sexual minorities score significantly higher compared to heterosexual individuals on all factors. We expect the correlational analysis to reveal positive relationships between all our independent variables and sexual risk behaviour. The mediation analysis is expected to reveal that emotion regulation acts as an influencing factor by acting as a protective factor in the relationship between ACEs and sexual risk behaviour. These findings are expected to contribute to the understanding of resilience in the face of childhood trauma and to inform the development of targeted emotion regulation interventions for individuals with high ACE exposure.