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Updated: Oct 19, 2025

Using a Murine Model of Psychosocial Stress in Pregnancy as a Translationally Relevant Paradigm for Psychiatric Disorders in Mothers and Infants
Published on: June 13, 2021
Maternal adverse childhood experiences and pregnancy intentions
Alexander Testa1, Dylan B Jackson2, Kyle T Ganson3
1Department of Criminology & Criminal Justice, University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio.
Purpose:
The current study investigates the association between maternal adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and having an unwanted (i.e., a pregnancy that was undesired) or mistimed pregnancy (i.e., a pregnancy that occurred sooner than wanted).
Methods:
Data are from the 2018 North Dakota and South Dakota Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) (N = 1897). Multinomial logistic regression analyses are used to assess the association between levels of ACE exposure and having an unwanted or mistimed pregnancy relative to an intended pregnancy.
Results:
Findings demonstrated that women with three ACEs (Relative Risk Ratio [RRR] = 2.157, 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.121-4.151) and four or more ACEs (RRR = 1.836, 95% CI, 1.181-2.854) had approximately twice the relative risk of having an unwanted pregnancy (vs. an intended pregnancy) compared to women with 0 ACEs. There was no association between ACEs and reporting a mistimed pregnancy.
Conclusions:
These findings add to a burgeoning literature detailing how accumulating ACEs can create challenges for family planning by increasing the likelihood of having an unintended pregnancy. Study results suggest the need to devote greater resources to the prevention of ACEs and unintended pregnancies.
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