Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2012 Oct;102(10):1893-901.
doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2012.300843. Epub 2012 Aug 16.

Prevalence of abuse and violence before, during, and after pregnancy in a national sample of Canadian women

Nihaya Daoud  1 , Marcelo L Urquia, Patricia O'Campo, Maureen Heaman, Patricia A Janssen, Janet Smylie, Kellie Thiessen
Affiliations

Prevalence of abuse and violence before, during, and after pregnancy in a national sample of Canadian women

Nihaya Daoud et al. Am J Public Health. 2012 Oct.

Abstract

Objectives: We describe the prevalence of abuse before, during, and after pregnancy among a national population-based sample of Canadian new mothers.

Methods: We estimated prevalence, frequency, and timing of physical and sexual abuse, identified category of perpetrator, and examined the distribution of abuse by social and demographic characteristics in a weighted sample of 76,500 (unweighted sample = 6421) Canadian mothers interviewed postpartum for the Maternity Experiences Survey (2006-2007).

Results: Prevalence of any abuse in the 2 years before the interviews was 10.9% (6% before pregnancy only, 1.4% during pregnancy only, 1% postpartum only, and 2.5% in any combination of these times). The prevalence of any abuse was higher among low-income mothers (21.2%), lone mothers (35.3%), and Aboriginal mothers (30.6%). In 52% of the cases, abuse was perpetrated by an intimate partner. Receiving information on what to do was reported by 61% of the abused mothers.

Conclusions: Large population-based studies on abuse around pregnancy can facilitate the identification of patterns of abuse and women at high risk for abuse. Before and after pregnancy may be particularly important times to monitor risk of abuse.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

FIGURE 1—
FIGURE 1—
Timing of abuse, and of onset and cessation of abuse, around the time of pregnancy among childbearing mothers: Maternity Experiences Survey, Canada, 2006–2007. Note. CI = confidence interval.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. World Health Organization. Violence Against Women, Fact Sheet N°239. Updated September 2011. Available at: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs239/en. Accessed July 5, 2012.
    1. United Nations General Assembly. Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women, General Assembly Resolution 48/104, December 20, 1993. Available at: http://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/48/a48r104.htm. Accessed March 25, 2011.
    1. WHO Multi-Country Study on Women's Health and Domestic Violence Against Women. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization; 2007
    1. Watts C, Zimmerman C. Violence against women: global scope and magnitude. Lancet. 2002;359(9313):1232–1237 - PubMed
    1. Pallitto C, Campbell J, O'Campo P. Is intimate partner violence associated with unintended pregnancy? A review of the literature. Trauma Violence Abuse. 2005;6(3):217–235 - PubMed