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a Department of Psychology, Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada b Integrated Services for Northern Children, Sioux Lookout, Ontario, Canada
Key Words: violence • pregnancy • pattern of abuse • children • psychological outcome
Addresss for correspondence: Josephine Tan, Department of Psychology, Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, Ontario, P7B 5E1 Canada. Voice: 807-346-7751; fax: 807-346-7734. e-mail: jtan{at}lakeheadu.ca
Violence against women during pregnancy is a global problem with adverse outcomes for the mothers and their children. This paper provides a discussion of the prevalence rates of pregnancy-related violence, associated factors, and outcomes. Most of the outcome literature focuses on perinatal and postnatal outcomes, but little is known about the longer term psychological outcome of children born to women abused during pregnancy. Moreover, the question as to whether the abuse increases during pregnancy remains unanswered given the equivocal findings in the literature. Findings from a small study conducted with women in the region of northwestern Ontario, Canada, are presented. The pattern of abuse during pregnancy over the three trimesters was examined. The long-term psychological outcomes of the children born to women abused during pregnancy were also investigated by comparing these children to a sex- and age-matched cohort of children born to women who were not abused during pregnancy. Although key confounding variables were controlled in the study, the results still showed that children born to women abused during pregnancy had greater behavioral problems.
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