History of violence a harbinger of increased sexual violence during pregnancy.

2004 SEP 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- In a study of couples with a history of domestic violence, sexual violence and psychological aggression was found to increase during the woman's pregnancy.

S.L. Martin and colleagues with the University of North Carolina's Department of Maternal and Child Health, investigated "[w]omen's experiences of partner violence, both before and during pregnancy, . . . using a convenience sample of women recruited from prenatal clinics."

Subjects included "an 'index group' of women who told their clinicians that they had been physically abused during pregnancy, and a 'comparison group' of women who told their clinicians that they had not been physically abused during pregnancy (even though later more detailed assessment found that some of these comparison women had experienced such violence)," the researchers said.

The average age of the women was 27; 83% were high school graduates; 26% were married; and 66% had had previous children.

"The Conflict Tactics Scales 2 assessed rates of partner violence victimization of the women and their male partners, including psychological aggression, physical assault, and sexual coercion. Injuries also were assessed," Martin and associates explained.

"Results showed that comparison men were physically assaulted at significantly higher rates than were their female partners, both before and during pregnancy (even though these victimization rates were much lower than those seen among the index couples)," the ...