Pregnancy, Birth, and Mental Health Outcomes Associated With Recent Reproductive Coercion and Intimate Partner Violence in a Crowd-Sourced National Sample.
Karen Trister Grace, Jhumka Gupta, Kathryn Fay and 3 others
PMID 40384507WHAT IT FOUND
Reproductive coercion alone was linked to preterm birth and low birth weight, but when combined with other partner violence, the risk of unplanned pregnancy and suicidal thoughts rose sharply.
Screening for coercion and violence is essential for perinatal mental health.
Key findings
01Reproductive coercion combined with other intimate partner violence had the strongest association with unplanned pregnancy and suicidal ideation.
02Reproductive coercion alone was independently associated with low birth weight and preterm birth, whereas other outcomes were explained by general violence.
03The link between combined coercion and violence with suicidal thoughts remained significant even after controlling for depression and anxiety.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
The study was cross-sectional, so it cannot prove that coercion or violence caused the health outcomes. All data, including birth outcomes and coercion experiences, were self-reported and subject to memory errors. The sample was predominantly White, limiting how well the results apply to other racial groups. Participants were recruited online, which may introduce bias and risks of fraudulent responses despite quality checks.
Declared interests
One author receives royalties from John Wiley & Sons, one is a consultant for Medicines360, and one receives royalties from UpToDate. The study was funded by George Mason University and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume all poor birth outcomes are caused by reproductive coercion. When general intimate partner violence was included in the analysis, many outcomes like substance use and preterm labor were no longer linked to coercion alone, indicating the violence itself was the primary driver.