Emotional, physical, and sexual abuse and the association with symptoms of depression and posttraumatic stress in a multi-ethnic pregnant population in southern Sweden

Anne-Marie Wangel; Elsa Lena Ryding; Berit Schei; Margareta Östman; Mirjam Lukasse; Bidens study group

doi:10.1016/j.srhc.2016.04.003

Emotional, physical, and sexual abuse and the association with symptoms of depression and posttraumatic stress in a multi-ethnic pregnant population in southern Sweden

Sex Reprod Healthc. 2016 Oct:9:7-13. doi: 10.1016/j.srhc.2016.04.003. Epub 2016 May 11.

Authors

Anne-Marie Wangel¹, Elsa Lena Ryding², Berit Schei³, Margareta Östman¹, Mirjam Lukasse⁴; Bidens study group

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Health and Society, Department of Care Science, Malmö University, Malmö, Sweden.
² Department of Women's and Children's Health, Division of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Karolinska Institutet/University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.
³ Department of Public Health and General Practice, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway; Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, St. Olav's University Hospital, Trondheim, Norway.
⁴ Faculty of Health Sciences, Oslo and Akershus University College, Postbox 4 St. Olavs Plass, 0130 Oslo, Norway. Electronic address: Mirjam.Lukasse@hioa.no.

PMID: 27634658
DOI: 10.1016/j.srhc.2016.04.003

Abstract

Objectives: This study aims to describe the prevalence of emotional, physical, and sexual abuse and analyze associations with symptoms of depression and posttraumatic stress (PTS) in pregnancy, by ethnic background.

Study design: This is a cross-sectional study of the Swedish data from the Bidens cohort study. Ethnicity was categorized as native and non-native Swedish-speakers. Women completed a questionnaire while attending routine antenatal care. The NorVold Abuse Questionnaire (NorAQ) assessed a history of emotional, physical or sexual abuse. The Edinburgh Depression Scale-5 measured symptoms of depression. Symptoms of Posttraumatic Stress (PTS) included intrusion, avoidance and numbness.

Results: Of 1003 women, 78.6% were native and 21.4% were non-native Swedish-speakers. Native and non-native Swedish-speakers experienced a similar proportion of lifetime abuse. Moderate emotional and physical abuse in childhood was significantly more common among non-native Swedish-speakers. Sexual abuse in adulthood was significantly more prevalent among native Swedish-speakers. Emotional and sexual abuse were significantly associated with symptoms of depression for both natives and non-natives. Physical abuse was significantly associated with symptoms of depression for non-natives only. All types of abuse were significantly associated with symptoms of PTS for both native and non-native Swedish-speakers. Adding ethnicity to the multiple binary regression analyses did not really alter the association between the different types of abuse and symptoms of depression and PTS.

Conclusion: The prevalence of lifetime abuse did not differ significantly for native and non-native Swedish-speakers but there were significant differences on a more detailed level. Abuse was associated with symptoms of depression and PTS. Being a non-native Swedish-speaker did not influence the association much.

Keywords: Depression; Emotional abuse; Ethnicity; Physical abuse; Posttraumatic stress; Sexual abuse.

MeSH terms

Adult
Bullying
Child
Child Abuse
Cohort Studies
Cross-Sectional Studies
Depression / etiology*
Depressive Disorder / etiology
Emotions
Ethnicity*
Female
Humans
Language
Pregnancy
Pregnancy Complications / epidemiology
Pregnancy Complications / etiology*
Pregnancy Complications / psychology
Prevalence
Psychiatric Status Rating Scales
Sex Offenses / psychology*
Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / etiology*
Sweden / epidemiology
Violence / psychology*
Young Adult