Women, pregnancy, and domestic violence in Spain

Resumen

Intimate partner violence (IPV) during pregnancy is a widespread global social and health problem. Perpetrators of IPV violate women's human rights and their unborn children. While a large amount of research has been conducted aimed at increasing our understanding of IPV, the majority of this research has taken place in the United States (U.S.). Our understanding of IPV, and particularly IPV that takes place during pregnancy, is more limited in places outside of the U.S., such as in Spain. Several major gaps exist within the literature in this area. Currently, it seems that the prevalence rates of IPV during pregnancy in women from Spain are unknown. In addition, little work has been done to address whether pregnancy and other negative IPV-related risk factors may put women at increased risk of experiencing IPV (Jasinski, 2004). By studying these unknown gaps, protocols and programs to prevent and overcome this problem may be enhanced. Pregnancy is considered a stressful life event, especially with the first child. The transition to parenthood is associated with marital difficulties that may be part of the cascade toward divorce (Shapiro & Gottman, 2005). Marital quality decreases for up to 67% of couples in the first year of the infant's life (Shapiro, Gottman, & Carrère, 2000). Thus, the stress of this transition may put women at higher risk of experiencing IPV during pregnancy. The proposed dissertation aimed to expand the research in this field by evaluating how a variety of risk factors that have been commonly related to IPV and the first pregnancy are associated with Spanish women's reports of IPV in their current relationships. One hundred and fifty-five pregnant and 77 non-pregnant women voluntarily participated in an anonymous survey at service centres located in the greater Bilbao area of Spain. Women completed a battery of questionnaires that asked them to self-report on the following constructs: women's experience of being victims of IPV in the last 12 months and a variety of risk factors associated with IPV. As expected, higher levels of reported IPV were associated with two specific risk factors: history of sexual abuse and alcohol consumption. Results also showed that higher levels of IPV were associated with lower levels of dyadic commitment (couple engagement). Additionally, pregnant women were less likely to experience IPV and risk factors commonly associated with IPV compared to non-pregnant women. Results also showed a significant interaction between pregnancy status and risk factors in predicting the frequency of IPV. Non-pregnant women who were younger and reported more exposure to violence in their past were more likely to experience IPV. However, pregnant women experienced more IPV when they reported more drug use by their partners, lower dyadic adjustment (couple satisfaction), and lower dyadic commitment. Unexpectedly, pregnant women experienced lower IPV when they reported more physical violence in the past, whereas the opposite was found for non-pregnant women.