Do pregnant teens have higher risk of intimate partner violence than pregnant adult women in Mexico?

Abstract

Objective: The objective of the study is to estimate the prevalence of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) identify factors linked to it in pregnant Mexican adult adolescent women. Methods: Data were gathered by the National Survey of Violence against Women (2006), applied to women between the ages 15 49, users of Mexican public health institutions. Multinomial logistic regression analyses were performed to explore the significant factors associated with IPV against pregnant women. Results: Both adolescent adult study participating women showed a 24% prevalence of current IPV (during the previous 12 months). The study’s multivariate model for adult women revealed the following as main predictors for IPV: a woman’s agreement with traditional gender roles (OR = 4.35, CI95% = 2.20 8.60), women with a history of childhood sexual abuse (OR = 2.76, CI95% = 1.68 4.55). The main predictor of IPV in pregnant adolescents was their partners’ frequency of alcohol consumption: often/usually (OR = 6.49, CI95% = 2.18 19.33). Conclusion: To this date, Mexico has not been able to guarantee universal screening methods for IPV as a part of prenatal care protocols. The phenomenon of IPV towards pregnant women neither has been followed up by further research nor has been identified as a public health problem in spite of the seriousness of its implications for women their offspring.