Sexual impulsivity (SI) has been associated with conditions that have substantial public health costs, such as sexually transmitted infections and unintended pregnancies. However, SI has not been examined systematically with respect to its relationships to psychopathology. The literature regarding associations between SI and history of different types of trauma also scarce.

We aimed to deepen the understanding of the roots of SI, both through the prism of history of trauma and through the prism of psychopathology as an explanation for SI.

We intended to investigate associations between SI and psychopathology, and between SI and personal history of trauma of different types, including gender-related differences.

We performed a secondary data analysis of Wave-2 of the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC), a national sample of 34,653 adults in the United States. DSM-IV based diagnoses of mood; anxiety, drug and personality disorders were assessed using the Alcohol Use Disorder and Associated Disabilities Interview Scheduled DSM-IV Version.

For both women and men, SI was positively associated with most Axis-I and Axis-II psychiatric disorders. Significant gender-related differences (GRD) were observed. Among women as compared to men, SI was more strongly associated with social phobia, alcohol abuse/dependence and most personality disorders. As for trauma, SI was positively associated with any trauma for both women and men. Among women as compared to men, SI was more strongly associated with sexual assault and kidnapping.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.