Childhood Sexual Abuse in Pregnant and Parenting Adolescents

• NCJ Number: 224885
• Journal: Child Abuse and Neglect Volume: 32 Issue: 9 Dated: September 2008 Pages: 869-877
• Author(s): Kathryn J. Gilson; Sandra Lancaster
• Date Published: September 2008
• Length: 9 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study examined child sexual abuse (CSA) in Australian childbearing adolescents and the impact of CSA on antenatal and postpartum depressive and anxiety in adolescents.

Abstract

Current findings suggest that in agreement with the results reported elsewhere in literature, the majority of sexual abuse experiences involved a boyfriend/male friend. The prevalence of physical abuse before the age of 16 years was 20.5 percent, and 9 percent of adolescents met the criteria for sexual abuse; overall, 20 .5 percent of adolescents experienced some kind of abuse (sexual or physical) and 9 percent experienced both sexual and physical abuse. An experience of sexual and/or physical abuse was related to depression and anxiety postpartum, but not during the pregnancy. Of interest, the young women who reported that their sexual experience occurred with a boyfriend or friend perceived their sexual experience as a mutual relationship and not abusive. However, research suggests that most sexual intercourse experiences among adolescents aged 14 years and younger are unwanted. Such descriptions of these relationships must raise concerns when they involve girls as young as 9 years as were found in this study. Future studies require attention to the following questions: Do such conceptualizations evolve after an experience of abuse or are there already pseudo-mature attitudes towards sexuality that influence the way these young girls regard relationships’ with older males, and what are the long-term implications of these conceptualizations of relationships at such a young age? Data were collected from 79 adolescents proceeding with a pregnancy for the first time were surveyed about abuse experience and were administered the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) at the third trimester and at 6 weeks and 6 months postpartum. Figure, tables, and references