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Journal of Pediatric Psychology Advance Access published online on September 15, 2008
Journal of Pediatric Psychology, doi:10.1093/jpepsy/jsn098
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© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Pediatric Psychology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Childhood Sexual Abuse and Adolescent Pregnancy: A Meta-analytic Update

Jennie G. Noll, PhD1, Chad E. Shenk, PhD1 and Karen T. Putnam, MS2

1Division of Behavioral Medicine & Clinical Psychology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, and 2Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, University of Cincinnati

All correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Jennie G. Noll, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Department of Pediatrics, Division of Behavioral Medicine & Clinical Psychology, 3333 Burnet Avenue, MLC 3015, Cincinnati, OH 45229-3039, USA. E-mail: jennie.noll{at}cchmc.org.


  Abstract

Objective Recent increases in adolescent pregnancies have sparked a renewed impetus to identify risk factors, such as childhood sexual abuse (CSA), associated with adolescent pregnancy. Given mixed evidence regarding the strength of the relationship between CSA and adolescent pregnancy (Blinn-Pike, Berger, Dixon, Kuschel, & Kaplan, 2002), our objective was to provide an estimate of the effect size of this relationship using updated literature and meta-analytic techniques. Methods Meta-analyses of 21 studies were conducted using a random effects model of binary outcomes to determine aggregate effect-size estimates controlling for study heterogeneity. Results CSA significantly increased the odds of experiencing an adolescent pregnancy by 2.21-fold (95% CI: 1.94–2.51). A supplemental analysis suggested that 4.5 out of 10 pregnant adolescents may have a prior history of CSA. Conclusions CSA places females at increased risk for subsequent adolescent pregnancy. Addressing conditions associated with CSA might impact the overall adolescent pregnancy rate.

Key words: child abuse and neglect; high-risk behaviors; meta-analysis.

Received April 29, 2008; revision received August 22, 2008; accepted August 22, 2008


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