Childhood victimization: Relationship to adolescent pregnancy outcome

Childhood sexual abuse is a common antecedents of adolescent pregnancy. We studied the pregnancies of 127 poor, black, 12- to 18-year-olds; 42 (33%) of whom reported that they had been physically or sexually abused prior to conception. We hypothesized that during pregnancy: (a) Previously abused adolescents report more stress and depression and less adequate social support than do nonabused adolescents; and (b) Previously abused adolescents obtain less prenatal care, gain less weight, engage in more substance abuse, and give birth to smaller babies than do nonabused adolescents. Consistent with the first study hypothesis, we found that abused adolescents scored significantly higher on stress and depression scales and rated their families as less supportive than did nonabused adolescents. Although there were no group differences in the rate of weight gain or the quantity of prenatal care obtained during pregnancy, abused adolescents were more likely to report substance use during pregnancy and gave birth to significantly smaller, (2,904±676 vs. 3,198±443 grams; p = .01), less mature (38.0±3.4 vs. 39.1±1.7 weeks; p = .05) infants. Our findings demonstrate the importance of asking pregnant adolescents about abuse. El abuso sexual en la ninẽz es un antecedente comun del embarazo adolescente. Estudiamos los embarazos de 127 muchachas pobres, negras, de 12 a 18 anõs de edad; 42(33%) de ellas reportaron que habián sido fiśica y sexualmente abusadas antes de la concepcioń. Hemos hipotetizado que durante el embarazo: (a) Las adolescentes previamente abusadas reportan maś stress y depresioń y menos apoyo social adecuado que las adolescentes no abusadas, y (b) Las adoslescentes previamente abusadas obtienen menos cuidado prenatal, aumentan menos de peso, se involucran maś con abuso de sustancias y dan a luz ninõs mas pequenõs que las adolescentes no abusadas. Consistente con la primera hipot́esis del estudio, encontramos que las adolescentes abusadas obtuvieron puntajes significativamente maś altos el las escalas de stress y depresioń y evaluaron a sus familias como que dan menos apoyo que las adolescentes no abusadas. Apesar de que no aparecen diferencias de grupos en el puntaje del aumento de peso o la cantidad de cuidado prenatal obtenido durante el embarazo, las adolescentes estaban maś propensas a reportar uso de sustancias durante el embarazo y dar a luz ninõs significativamente maś pequenos, (2,904± 676 v. 3,198± 443 gramos; p = .01), y menos maduros (38.0± 3.