Women from troubled families have earlier sexual debut and take more sexual risks

Women who grew up in unstable, troubled family and social environments are more likely to become sexually active earlier in adulthood, have more partners and are more orientated towards short-term relationships. This is according to a study from California State University, Sacramento, Medical Xpress reported.

Researchers traced how the "discordance" of childhood environments was linked to so-called "fast" life strategies and increased "marital-sexual activity" in adulthood. These psychological traits explained 22.2% of the association between childhood conditions and sexual behaviour in adulthood. The work is published in the journal Evolution and Human Behaviour.

Fast and slow life strategies

The study draws on life history theory: childhood conditions are thought to set the general 'mode' of life strategy - how a person allocates resources between survival, finding a mate and parenting.

• Fast strategy - early sexual debut, more casual and short-term liaisons, more partners and more often children at a younger age.

• Slow strategy - later sexual debut, monogamy or safer behaviour (contraception), fewer partners and greater emphasis on parenting and long-term planning.

Adverse childhood environments included: parental divorce, parental unemployment, frequent moves, unsafe neighbourhoods, substance abuse or domestic violence. Stable and supportive environments were: warm upbringing, stable housing, and a safe environment.

Who participated in the study

Participants were 875 female students at a Northern California university between the ages of 18 and 46 (average age 20.55). Participants completed questionnaires:

• about childhood environment (family, neighbourhood, stability of resources);

• psychological traits in adulthood;

• sexual behaviour and attitudes;

• plus the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) scale, a list of 20 possible negative childhood events.

The scientists divided childhood environments into two levels:

• microsystem - the immediate environment: parents, other adults in the home, relatives, neighbours, teachers;

• exosystem - factors that influence indirectly: parents' work, financial instability, frequent moves, etc.

Unstable childhood and Quick Strategy

Women with a more "chaotic" microenvironment in childhood were more likely to:

• scored higher on the ACE scale;

• had a less involved father and mother;

• lived in homes where unauthorised adults were often present;

• grew up in neighbourhoods with higher crime rates.

These same women were more likely to show:

• more pronounced "fast" traits (impulsivity, present-orientation);

• higher rates of psychopathy and Machiavellianism (of the "dark triad");

• greater propensity for forceful and manipulative control of resources;

• lower self-control.

Psychopathy, self-control, and number of partners

Psychopathy was found to be particularly strongly associated with sexual activity in the model:

• women with higher psychopathy scores were more likely to have had more sexual partners,

• were more orientated towards short-term relationships,

• were more likely to report a willingness to engage in risky sex in the future.

Machiavellianism also increased short-term relationship orientation and sexual risk-taking.

Self-control behaviours were the opposite:

• higher ACE and neighbourhood crime were associated with low self-control,

• low self-control with more partners, greater openness to casual sex and willingness to engage in more risky behaviour.

Also, higher neighbourhood crime was associated with greater resource control strategies (coercion, power-seeking), and these in turn were associated with more partners and willingness to take risks.

Age of first sex

Age of first sex did not enter the main model because 284 women had no sexual experience at all. For those 591 participants who did, a separate regression analysis was done.

The result: women who grew up in a more chaotic family and neighbourhood tended to have earlier sexual experiences. Moreover:

• overall family financial background,

• the slower traits

did not significantly alter this relationship.

Early debut was more common in women with:

• higher levels of childhood difficulties (ACEs);

• less involved father;

• more non-relatives living in the home;

• higher rates of psychopathy, control and power-seeking;

• higher neuroticism.

A small group of mothers

Of the entire sample, only 33 women reported having children. Thirty-seven women without children (70 participants in total) were randomly selected for comparison.

Here it was found that:

• childhood conditions (micro- and exosystem) did not make a significant difference between mothers and non-mothers;

• but adult traits played an important role.

Women with children were more likely to show 'slow' traits - resilience, well-being, conscientiousness, more secure attachment, perseverance. They had:

• lower rates of psychopathy, low self-control, and power-seeking;

• higher "slow" scores.

That is, in this small group, it was the adult psychological profile rather than the childhood conditions that better distinguished mothers from women without children.

What it all means

Overall, the psychosocial traits in the female participants clustered into two relatively independent configurations:

• fast - associated with a more rigid and unpredictable microenvironment in childhood and with increased "sexual effort" (more partners, more risk);

• slow - associated with a warmer and more predictable environment, fewer partners and safer behaviour, with weaker direct links to sexual effort.

Key finding: conditions in the immediate childhood environment (microsystem) up to age 10 were more important than external factors (exosystem) in shaping personality traits and sexual behaviour patterns in adulthood.

• childhood traumas,

• parental alienation,

• living with unrelated adults,

• neighbourhood crime

together formed a "risk set" associated with quick strategies, more partners, and more risky scenarios.

Limitations of the study

The authors emphasise that the sample was restricted to female students, that is, women already enrolled at university. This severely limits the generalisation of the results: the mere fact of being in college may be part of a 'slow' life strategy (planning, investing in education).

It is not known what the same relationships would look like for women who do not pursue higher education and how socioeconomic differences change the picture. These questions remain open.