Rethinking Teenage Childbearing: Is Sexual Abuse a Missing Link

This exploratory study examines the relationship between childhood sexual victimization and adolescent pregnancy. Interviews were conducted with a nonclinical sample of 41 young rural mothers who had been pregnant as teenagers. Research questions concerning the prevalence of sexually abusive experiences the effects of such abuse on self-perceptions and differences between victimized and nonvictimized young mothers were addressed. Of the respondents 54% reported that they had been sexually abused by the age of 18. Victims self-perceptions and their relationships with others appear to have suffered because of the abusive experiences yet few significant differences were noted when the victims were compared to non-victims in the sample. Implications of these findings for practitioners are discussed. (authors)