Self-regulation in the path from childhood adversity to problem sexual behaviour

荟萃分析显示，57%的人在童年时期至少会经历一种不良经历（例如，虐待或家庭功能障碍），13%的人会经历四种或更多（Hughes et al., 2017）。童年时期经历更大的逆境与许多有问题的结果有关，并且与有问题的性行为密切相关，包括危险性行为和性暴力（Hughes et al., 2017; Levenson, Willis, & Prescott, 2014）。我建议研究不良经历可能带来的心理后果，并系统地测试它们是否与有问题的性行为有因果关系。我所说的问题性行为是指对个人或他人有伤害风险的性行为，包括不安全的性行为、骚扰、性胁迫和其他形式的性侵犯。具体来说，我感兴趣的是将与自我调节相关的心理结构作为一种机制来解释早期逆境如何转化为性行为问题。自我调节是指允许个人实现目标和应对挑战的过程（内部和外部）（Ward, Hudson, & Keenan, 1998），并与各种有问题的性行为有关（Crockett, Raffaelli, Shen, 2006; Hanson & Morton-Bourgon, 2005）。确定行动机制将为公共卫生专业人员提供可行的干预目标。换句话说，针对个人自我调节的干预措施可能提供二级预防策略，在初级预防努力减少不良童年经历失败的情况下。这个项目可以分成四个子部分。第一部分将在我的硕士课程期间进行，并将使用横截面方法检查我感兴趣的变量之间的关系。基于现有的文献，我有信心能够证明这些变量之间的相互关系。然而，我的分析将进一步发展它们之间确切关系的知识。第二部分将使用实验性的社会心理学方法来操纵负面童年经历的显著性，以测试参与这些负面经历是否会降低自我调节效率，并增加问题性行为的代理结果。第三条线索将通过操纵自我调节来进一步研究休闲模式。使用经颅直流电刺激，我将尝试改善自我调节，并检查对问题性行为的相同代理的影响。在最后的第四部分，我将在第一部分的基础上，在30个月后对同样的参与者进行跟踪调查。纵向设计的使用将加强我所能做出的因果推论。纵向研究的一个子集将保存自我调节数据和性行为的日记，使我能够检查任何失调和问题行为的时间接近性。我在本研究中提出的多方法方法将允许对这些变量之间的真实关系（和关系方向）有更大的信心。这种三角分析应该对高质量的期刊有吸引力。这不仅有利于我自己的发展和职业生涯，也将为这项重要的研究提供最大的曝光率。我希望我获得的结果将有助于确定干预的目标，从而减少有问题的性行为

Meta-analysis shows that 57% of individuals will experience at least one type of adverse experience (e.g., maltreatment or household dysfunction) during childhood, and 13% will experience four or more (Hughes et al., 2017). Experiencing greater adversity in childhood has been associated with a number of problematic outcomes, and is strongly associated with problematic sexual behaviours, including risky sexual behaviour and sexual violence (Hughes et al., 2017; Levenson, Willis, & Prescott, 2014). I propose to look at the possible psychological consequences of adverse experiences and systematically test whether they appear to be causally linked to problematic sexual behaviour. By problematic sexual behaviour I am referring to sexual behaviour that represents a risk of harm to the individual or others, including unsafe sex, harassment, sexual coercion, and other forms of sexual aggression. Specifically, I am interested in looking at psychological constructs relating to self-regulation as mechanisms that may explain how early adversity translates into sexual behaviour problems. Self-regulation refers to the processes (internal and external) that allow the individual to achieve their goals and manage challenges (Ward, Hudson, & Keenan, 1998) and is associated with a variety of problematic sexual behaviours (Crockett, Raffaelli, Shen, 2006; Hanson & Morton-Bourgon, 2005). Identifying mechanisms of action will present public health professionals with feasible intervention targets. In other words, interventions targeting the self-regulation of individuals may provide a strategy of secondary prevention where primary prevention efforts to reduce adverse childhood experiences have been unsuccessful. The project can be split into four subsections or strands. The first strand will take place during my MSc year and will examine the relationship between my variables of interest using a cross sectional methodology. Based on the existing literature, I am confident of being able to demonstrate the inter-relatedness of these variables. However, my analysis will develop further knowledge on the exact relationships between them. The second strand will use experimental social psychological methods to manipulate the salience of negative childhood experiences to test whether engaging with these negative experiences reduces self-regulation efficacy and increases outcomes on proxies for problematic sexual behaviour. The third strand will move forward a step in examining the casual model by manipulating self-regulation. Using transcranial direct current stimulation, I will attempt to improve self-regulation, and examine the effect on the same proxies for problematic sexual behaviour. In the final, fourth, strand I will build on the findings of strand 1 by following up on the same participants after a period of 30 months. The use of a longitudinal design will strengthen the causal inferences I can make. A subset of the longitudinal study will keep a diary of self-regulation data and sexual behaviour allowing me to examine the temporal proximity of any dysregulation and problematic behaviour. The multi-method approach I propose in this study will allow for greater confidence around the true relationships (and direction of relationships) between these variables. This triangulation should appeal to high quality journals. Not only will this benefit my own development and career, but also it will yield the maximum exposure for this important research. My hope is that the results I obtain will help identify targets for intervention leading to a reduction in problematic sexual behaviour