Pathways linking childhood maltreatment and adolescent sexual risk behaviors: The role of attachment security

Child maltreatment is linked to risky sexual behaviour in adolescence, but the reasons are not well understood. In a large sample of sexually active Quebec high school students, neglect was linked to more sexual partners, more casual sex and earlier first intercourse, partly through anxious and avoidant attachment. Sexual abuse was directly linked to all three behaviours, but not through attachment. Interventions that strengthen attachment security may help reduce sexual risk-taking among youth who have been neglected.