Type:	Journal Article
Title:	Termination of pregnancy: associations with partner violence and other factors in a national cohort of young Australian women
Other Titles:	Australian and New Zealand journal of public health
Authors:	Taft, Angela Watson, Lyndsey F
Keywords:	Pregnancy
Year:	2007
Publisher:	Public Health Association of Australia
Citation:	31 (2), April 2007
Notes:	General Overview/>: This study looked at responses to the Australian Longitudinal Study of Women’s Health survey and found that women who had experienced partner violence were significantly more likely to report having terminated a pregnancy. Method/>: Data from two surveys undertaken in 1996 and 2000 were linked. The women surveyed were aged between 18 and 23 years when first surveyed in 1996. Associations between terminations and other reproductive events, socio-demographic characteristics and violence were examined. Women were asked questions about intimate partner violence of various types, including pushing, grabbing, shoving, kicking, hitting, unwanted sexual activity and general violence. Results/>: The study found as women grew older the proportion that had experienced terminations increased. Women reporting recent non-partner violence were more likely to report a termination of pregnancy, as did women reporting intimate partner violence. The odds of termination for women who reported violence were almost twice that of non-abused women and those that reported recent partner violence or sexual violence were even higher. Single teenage women had much higher odds of termination, while older married women were also less likely to have had terminations. Women who were still studying had lower odds of a termination whereas those teenagers who had left school had significantly higher odds of having had a termination. In the teenage group, women in the ‘disabled or other’ category had almost three times the odds of reporting a termination than those employed full time. As they moved into the older category women had moved away from studying category and there was no significant difference between different categories of occupation. Conclusion/>: The associations between partner violence and termination, and also that between partner violence and a low level of education particularly in the teenage groups, indicates that efforts to prevent such violence may reduce unwanted pregnancy. Any public health policy seeking to reduce unwanted pregnancy should include prevention and reduction of partner violence.
URI:	https://anrows.intersearch.com.au/anrowsjspui/handle/1/12666
ISSN:	1326-0200
Appears in Collections:	Journal Articles

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