Childhood Sexual Abuse To Teenage Pregnancy

Running Head: RESEARCH ARTICLE REVIEW

Research Article Review

The Relationship of Childhood Sexual Abuse to Teenage Pregnancy

Ashlee L. Glover

Lindenwood University

The Relationship of Childhood Sexual Abuse to Teenage Pregnancy

I. Questions and Answers

1. “The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between childhood sexual abuse and teenage pregnancy” (Roosa, Tein, Reinholtz, & Angelini, 1997).

2. “Three research questions guided this effort. First, do women who were sexually abused as children and women who had teenage pregnancy have similar developmental backgrounds (sociodemographic and risk factor profiles)? Second, does the risk for teenage pregnancy differ, based on whether a woman was
“We used chi-square and analysis of variance to compare sociodemographic and risk factor profiles of (a) women who were sexually abused as children with their non-abused peers and (b) women who had teenage pregnancy with those who did not. Next, we compared the incidence of teenage pregnancy for five sexual history pathways using chi-square. Finally, we used logistic regression to determine whether experiences of childhood sexual abuse contributed to risk for teenage pregnancy after the influences of other variables had been accounted for” (Roosa et al., 1997).

8. “The results of our study do not support arguments that sexual abuse is a major contributor to the risk for teenage pregnancy” (Roosa et al., 1997).

9. The importance of the findings is that childhood sexual abuse contributed little to the likelihood of teenage pregnancy. The severity of sexual abuse was not significantly related to teenage pregnancy. Sexual abuse followed by sexual precocity was related to a higher risk of teenage pregnancy for some. (Roosa et al., 1997).

10. The results were limited by two methodological factors. “First, the sample, although large, was a sample of convenience from a single state, and participants were slightly more educated than the average for this cohort. Second, this was a cross-sectional study that relied on the recall of events that occurred several necessary years prior to the survey” (Roosa et al.,
women having a pregnancy by the age of 18 (Roosa et al., 1997). The purpose of this study was to determine if childhood sexual abuse is a factor associated with an increased risk for teenage pregnancies (Roosa et al., 1997). Recent studies have reported that sexual abuse is more common among pregnant teenagers than in general population and therefore could possibly be a major contributor to teenage pregnancy. Many mechanisms have been proposed to explain the linkage between childhood sexual abuse and teenage pregnancy. Roosa et al., (1997) outlined several mechanisms including (a) some teenage pregnancies may be the direct result of sexual abuse, (b) childhood sexual abuse may socialize female victims to believe that their purpose in life is to fulfill the sexual needs of others, (c) the lowered self-esteem of sexual abuse victims may make them more vulnerable to males’ sexual advances, and (d) victims of incest may plan pregnancies as a means of escaping from their victimization. Three research questions guided this