title: Emotional, physical, and sexual abuse and the association with symptoms of depression and posttraumatic stress in a multi-ethnic pregnant population in southern Sweden.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study aims to describe the prevalence of emotional, physical, and sexual abuse and analyze associations with symptoms of depression and posttraumatic stress (PTS) in pregnancy, by ethnic background.
  
  
  METHODS
  This is a cross-sectional study of the Swedish data from the Bidens cohort study. Ethnicity was categorized as native and non-native Swedish-speakers. Women completed a questionnaire while attending routine antenatal care. The NorVold Abuse Questionnaire (NorAQ) assessed a history of emotional, physical or sexual abuse. The Edinburgh Depression Scale-5 measured symptoms of depression. Symptoms of Posttraumatic Stress (PTS) included intrusion, avoidance and numbness.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of 1003 women, 78.6% were native and 21.4% were non-native Swedish-speakers. Native and non-native Swedish-speakers experienced a similar proportion of lifetime abuse. Moderate emotional and physical abuse in childhood was significantly more common among non-native Swedish-speakers. Sexual abuse in adulthood was significantly more prevalent among native Swedish-speakers. Emotional and sexual abuse were significantly associated with symptoms of depression for both natives and non-natives. Physical abuse was significantly associated with symptoms of depression for non-natives only. All types of abuse were significantly associated with symptoms of PTS for both native and non-native Swedish-speakers. Adding ethnicity to the multiple binary regression analyses did not really alter the association between the different types of abuse and symptoms of depression and PTS.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The prevalence of lifetime abuse did not differ significantly for native and non-native Swedish-speakers but there were significant differences on a more detailed level. Abuse was associated with symptoms of depression and PTS. Being a non-native Swedish-speaker did not influence the association much.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health and Society, Department of Care Science, Malmö University, Malmö, Sweden.
authors.forename: Anne-Marie
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Wangel
authors.affiliation: Department of Women's and Children's Health, Division of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Karolinska Institutet/University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Elsa Lena
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Ryding
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health and General Practice, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway; Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, St. Olav's University Hospital, Trondheim, Norway.
authors.forename: Berit
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Schei
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health and Society, Department of Care Science, Malmö University, Malmö, Sweden.
authors.forename: Margareta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Östman
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health Sciences, Oslo and Akershus University College, Postbox 4 St. Olavs Plass, 0130 Oslo, Norway. Electronic address: Mirjam.Lukasse@hioa.no.
authors.forename: Mirjam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lukasse
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D058445:Bullying; D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003863:Depression / Q000209:etiology*; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000209:etiology; D004644:Emotions; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology* / Q000523:psychology; D015995:Prevalence; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012742:Sex Offenses / Q000523:psychology*; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000209:etiology*; D013548:Sweden / Q000453:epidemiology; D014754:Violence / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Depression; Emotional abuse; Ethnicity; Physical abuse; Posttraumatic stress; Sexual abuse