Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Intimate Partner Violence During Pregnancy and the First Year Postpartum in an Australian Pregnancy Cohort Study

  • Published:
Maternal and Child Health Journal Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

To assess intimate partner violence (IPV) in a longitudinal cohort study during and after pregnancy, and examine social and economic factors encouraging or inhibiting violence. Nulliparous women were recruited from 6 public hospitals in Melbourne, Australia. Self-administered questionnaires included standardised measures assessing fear of an intimate partner at enrolment, 6 and 12 months postpartum; and period prevalence of physical and emotional abuse in the first 12 months postpartum. 1,507 women completed baseline data (mean gestation 15 weeks). Response fractions at 3, 6 and 12 months postpartum were 95, 93 and 90%, respectively. 5.1 and 5.4% of women reported fear in pregnancy and the first year postpartum, respectively. 17% experienced physical and/or emotional abuse in the first year postpartum. Most women who reported fear of an intimate partner in the first year after the index birth reported fear before and/or during pregnancy. Women working in early pregnancy who qualified for paid maternity leave had significantly reduced odds of reporting combined physical and emotional IPV in the first 12 months postpartum compared with women not working (Adj. OR 0.21, 95% CI 0.08–0.55). Women working but not eligible for paid leave had reduced odds compared with women not working (Adj. OR 0.49, 95% CI 0.24–1.00). Models adjusted for maternal age, relationship status, income and education level. Few first time mothers reported fear for the first time after childbirth suggesting that IPV more commonly commences prior to the first birth. Paid maternity leave may have broader social benefits beyond immediate financial benefits to women and families.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Australian Bureau of Statistics. Women’s safety Australia. Canberra, Australia; 1996. Report No.: 4128.0.

  2. Tjaden, P., & Thoennes, N. (2000). Prevalence and consequences of male-to-female and female-to-male intimate partner violence as measured by the national violence against women survey. Violence Against Women, 6(2), 142–161.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Campbell, J. C. (2002). Health consequences of intimate partner violence. Lancet, 359(9314), 1331.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Ellsberg, M., Jansen, H. A. F. M., Heise, L., Watts, C. H., & Garcia-Moreno, C. (2008). Intimate partner violence and women’s physical and mental health in the WHO multi-country study on women’s health and domestic violence: an observational study (see comment). Lancet, 371(9619), 1165–1172.

    Google Scholar 

  5. Gazmararian, J. A., Petersen, R., Spitz, A. M., Goodwin, M. M., Saltzman, L. E., & Marks, J. S. (2000). Violence and reproductive health: Current knowledge and future research directions. Maternal and Child Health Journal, 4(2), 79–84.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Mezey, G., Bacchus, L., Bewley, S., & White, S. (2005). Domestic violence, lifetime trauma and psychological health of childbearing women. BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, 112(2), 197–204.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Vos, T., Astbury, J., Piers, L. S., Magnus, A., Heenan, M., Stanley, L., et al. (2006). Measuring the impact of intimate partner violence on the health of women in Victoria, Australia. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 84(9), 739–744.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Brown, D. S., Finkelstein, E. A., & Mercy, J. A. (2008). Methods for estimating medical expenditures attributable to intimate partner violence. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 23(12), 1747–1766.

    Google Scholar 

  9. Rivara, F. P., Anderson, M. L., Fishman, P., Bonomi, A. E., Reid, R. J., Carrell, D. et al. (2007). Intimate partner violence and health care costs and utilization for children living in the home. Pediatrics, 120(6), 1270–1277.

    Google Scholar 

  10. Bonomi, A. E. (2009). Health care utilization and costs associated with physical and nonphysical-only intimate partner violence. Health Services Research, 44(3), 1052–1067.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Gelles, R. J. (1988). Violence and pregnancy: Are pregnant women at greater risk of abuse? Journal of Marriage and the Family, 50(3), 841–847.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Martin, S. L., Harris-Britt, A., Yun, L., Moracco, K. E., Kupper, L. L., & Campbell, J. C. (2004). Changes in intimate partner violence during pregnancy. Journal of Family Violence, 19(4), 201–210.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Goodwin, M. M., Gazmararian, J. A., Johnson, C. H., Gilbert, B. C., & Saltzman, L. E. (2000). Pregnancy intendedness and physical abuse around the time of pregnancy: Findings from the pregnancy risk assessment monitoring system, 1996–1997. Maternal and Child Health Journal, 4(2), 85–92.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Taft, A. J., & Watson, L. F. (2004). Violence against young Australian women and association with reproductive events: A cross-sectional analysis of a national population sample. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 28(4), 324–329.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Ballard, T. J., Saltzman, L. E., Gazmararian, J. A., Spitz, A. M., Lazorick, S., & Marks, J. S. (1998). Violence during pregnancy: Measurement issues. American Journal of Public Health, 88(2), 274–276.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. WHO. (2002). World report on violence and health. Geneva: World Health Organisation.

    Google Scholar 

  17. Swanberg, J. E., Logan, T., & Macke, C. (2005). Intimate partner violence, employment, and the workplace: Consequences and future directions. Trauma Violence & Abuse, 6(4), 286–312.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Tolman, R. M., & Wang, H.-C. (2005). Domestic violence and women’s employment: Fixed effects models of three waves of women’s employment study data. American Journal of Community Psychology, 36(1–2), 147–158.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Staggs, S. L., & Riger, S. (2005). Effects of intimate partner violence on low-income women’s health and employment. American Journal of Community Psychology, 36(1–2), 133–145.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Lynch, S. M., & Graham-Bermann, S. A. (2004). Exploring the Relationship between positive work experiences and women’s sense of self in the context of partner abuse. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 28(2), 159–167.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Rothman, E. F., Hathaway, J., Stidsen, A., & de Vries, H. F. (2007). How employment helps female victims of intimate partner violence: a qualitative study. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 12(2), 136–143.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Productivity Commission. (2008). Paid parental leave: Support for parents with newborn children. Canberra, Australia: Draft Inquiry Report; 2008.

  23. Hegarty, K., Bush, R., & Sheehan, M. (2005). The composite abuse scale: Further development and assessment of reliability and validity of a multidimensional partner abuse measure in clinical settings. Violence and Victims, 20(5), 529–547.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. Hegarty, K., Sheehan, M., & Schonfeld, C. (1999). A multidimensional definition of partner abuse: Development and preliminary validation of the composite abuse scale. Journal of Family Violence, 14(4), 399–415.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Lumley, J., Small, R., Brown, S., Watson, L., Gunn, J., Mitchell, C., et al. (2003). PRISM (program of resources, information and support for mothers) protocol for a community-randomised trial [ISRCTN03464021]. BMC Public Health, 3(1):36.

    Google Scholar 

  26. Brown, S. J., McDonald, E. A., & Krastev, A. H. (2008). Fear of an intimate partner and women’s health in early pregnancy: Findings from the maternal health study. Birth, 35(4), 293–302.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  27. StataCorp. (2007). Stata statistical software: Release 10. College Station, TX: StataCorp LP.

  28. Brown, S. J., Lumley, J. M., McDonald, E. A., & Krastev, A. H. (2006). Maternal health study: A prospective cohort study of nulliparous women recruited in early pregnancy. BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, 6(12).

  29. Gazmararian, J. A., Lazorick, S., Spitz, A. M., Ballard, T. J., Saltzman, L. E., & Marks, J. S. (1996). Prevalence of violence against pregnant women. JAMA, 275(24), 1915–1920.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  30. Brownridge, D. A., Ko Ling, C., Hiebert-Murphy, D., Ristock, J., Tiwari, A., Leung, W.-C., et al. (2008). The elevated risk for non-lethal post-separation violence in Canada: A comparison of separated, divorced, and married women. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 23(1), 117–135.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  31. Halliday, J., Ellis, I., & Stone, C. (1999). WUDWAW report on models of antenatal care. Melbourne: Victorian Perinatal Data Collection Unit.

    Google Scholar 

  32. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2008). Aboriginal and torres strait islander health performance framework. Canberra: AIHW 2008 (Cat. no. IHW22).

  33. Brady, T. M., Visscher, W., Feder, M., & Burns, A. M. (2003). Maternal drug use and the timing of prenatal care. Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, 14(4), 588–607.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  34. Hueston, W. J., Geesey, M. E., & Diaz, V. (2008). Prenatal care initiation among pregnant teens in the United States: An analysis over 25 years. Journal of Adolescent Health, 42(3), 243–248.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by a project grant from the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (ID 191222, Melbourne, Australia); a VicHealth Public Health Research Fellowship (2002–2006, Melbourne Australia); and National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia Career Development Award (ID 491205 2008–2012, Melbourne, Australia) awarded to Stephanie J. Brown. Dr Hemphill was supported by funding from an Australian Research Council Discovery Project (DPO663371 2006–2008).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Healthy Mothers Healthy Families Research Group, Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, Parkville, PO Box 911, Melbourne, VIC, 3052, Australia

    D. Gartland & S. J. Brown

  2. Centre for Adolescent Health, Royal Children’s Hospital, Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, & Department of Paediatrics at The University of Melbourne, 2 Gatehouse St, Parkville, VIC, Australia

    S. A. Hemphill

  3. Primary Care Research Unit, Department of General Practice, University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, Australia

    K. Hegarty & S. J. Brown

Authors
  1. D. Gartland
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. S. A. Hemphill
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. K. Hegarty
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. S. J. Brown
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to D. Gartland.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Gartland, D., Hemphill, S.A., Hegarty, K. et al. Intimate Partner Violence During Pregnancy and the First Year Postpartum in an Australian Pregnancy Cohort Study. Matern Child Health J 15, 570–578 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-010-0638-z

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-010-0638-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation