More Than Poverty: The Effect of Child Abuse and Neglect on Teen Pregnancy Risk

Abstract

Purpose To compare risk for teen pregnancies between children living in poverty with no Child Protection Services (CPS) report history, and those in poverty with a history of CPS report. Methods Children selected from families in poverty, both with and without CPS report histories were prospectively followed from 1993–2009 using electronic administrative records from agencies including child protective services, emergency departments, Medicaid services and juvenile courts. A total of 3281 adolescent females were followed until age 18. Results For teens with history of poverty only, 16.8% had been pregnant at least once by age 17. In teens with history of both poverty and report of child abuse or neglect, 28.9% had been pregnant at least once by age 17. While multivariate survival analyses revealed several other significant factors at the family and youth services levels, a report of maltreatment remained significant (about a 66% higher risk). Conclusions Maltreatment is a significant risk factor for teen pregnancy among low income youth even after controlling for neighborhood disadvantage, other caregiver risks and indicators of individual emotional and behavioral problems.

Family formation: A positive outcome for vulnerable young women?

“…Before controlling for adolescent risk indicators, our models partially supported the hypothesis that young women with a history of “poverty only” or “maltreatment only” have a lower likelihood of unmarried childrearing than women with both poverty and maltreatment histories. These findings are consistent with the idea of the impact of cumulative risk (Jonson-Reid et al, 2012) as both poverty (Cherlin et al, 2004) and childhood maltreatment (Garwood et al, 2015; Southerland et al, 2009) have been associated with unmarried childrearing. Following control for the number of adolescent risk indicators, however, only the “maltreatment only” group remained significantly different than the group with both experiences.…”

“…Another study found that adolescent girls or young women with histories of foster care were at a somewhat greater risk of early child rearing though the magnitude of risk associated with foster care as compared to prior maltreatment per se was unclear (King, Putnam-Hornstein, Cederbaum, & Needell, 2014). An investigated report of maltreatment increased the risk of teen pregnancy by about 60% in a study controlling for family and community poverty as well as other youth risk behaviors (Garwood, Gerassi, Jonson-Reid, Plax, & Drake, 2015). Both sexual abuse and neglect in childhood have been linked to early sexual behavior and risk for early parenting (Brown, Cohen, Chen, Smailes, & Johnson, 2004; Davis, & Petretic-Jackson, 2000; Hahm, Lee, Ozonoff, & Van Wert, 2010; Noll, & Shenk, 2013; Thompson, & Neilson, 2014).…”

Multiple levels of social influence on adolescent sexual and reproductive health decision-making and behaviors in Ghana

“…In fact, life course theory suggests that social patterns in adolescence significantly affect actions, behavior, and development (Elder 1998). For adolescent sexual and reproductive health (SRH), specific social influences have been of interest in global research on adverse outcomes, such as unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) (Garwood et al 2015; Hall et al 2015; Nagarkar and Mhaskar 2015). For example, studies in the U.S., Europe, and Africa have reported similar findings regarding isolated factors, such as educational attainment, poverty level, and violence for their independent relations to early childbearing and HIV/AIDS acquisition (Cordova Pozo et al 2015; Nyarko 2015; Sprague et al 2016).…”

Childhood abuse and unplanned pregnancies: a cross‐sectional study of women in the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study

“…Women exposed to childhood emotional, physical and/or sexual abuse have more sexually risk‐taking behaviours than non‐exposed women. They have a higher number of lifetime sexual partners, higher risk of contracting sexually transmitted infections, are less likely to use contraceptives, and more likely to have a teenage pregnancy and an induced termination of pregnancy . When forming their own families, it is more common for victims of childhood abuse to report less positive relations with their partners and children, and to be a single parent …”