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Abstract

Previous studies have suggested that women with a history of sexual abuse are more likely to become pregnant as adolescents than nonabused peers. We examined a cohort of 734 mothers ages 12 to 42 selected from 1985 to 1987 for participation in a longitudinal investigation for any relationship between sexual abuse prior to age 18 and childbearing characteristics, including their age at the birth of their first child as well as parity. Thirty-two percent reported sexual abuse. After controlling for poverty, race, maternal education, marital status, and age, there was no significant difference between the abused and nonabused mothers in their age at first birth; however, parity was higher for the sexually abused group. Fifty-five percent of mothers with a sexual abuse history had had more than one child as opposed to 39% of the nonabused mothers (p < 0.0001).

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Childbearing Patterns in a Cohort of Women Sexually Abused as Children

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