Sexual Victimization and Somatic Complaints in Pregnancy: Examination of Depression as a Mediator

Abstract

PurposeResearch suggests that women with histories of sexual victimization are more likely to experience somatic complaints in pregnancy. However, prior studies have been limited by homogenous samples, have primarily only examined the relationship of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) to somatic complaints, and have not examined potential mechanisms explaining this association. Thus, the current study examined the relationship between lifetime sexual victimization history and somatic complaints in pregnancy in an ethnically diverse sample of pregnant women. Additionally, depressive symptoms were examined as a mediator of the sexual victimization–somatic complaints relationship. ProceduresWomen were recruited from the waiting room of a university-affiliated obstetrics–gynecology clinic to complete a study of psychological health and negative sexual experiences. The 407 currently pregnant participants who completed measures of their sexual victimization history, depressive symptoms, and somatic complaints were primarily African American (53.6%), low to middle income (75.4%), and reported an unplanned pregnancy (72%). FindingsA total of 27.7% of women had a history of CSA and/or adolescent/adult sexual assault. Mediation analyses using bootstrapping supported depression as a significant mediator of the relationship between sexual victimization and somatic complaints, with a medium-sized effect (κ2 = .09). ConclusionsHaving a history of sexual victimization is associated with risk for poor mental and physical health during pregnancy. There are likely multiple mechanisms explaining the association between sexual victimization and somatic complaints in pregnancy, which should be investigated in future research.