Adverse childhood experiences and the impact on pregnancy intention, a cross-sectional study

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) may be associated with unintended pregnancies (UPs). Our aim was to investigate whether there is an association between a history of ACE, type of ACE or number of ACE and the risk for UPs and if this risk is mediated by psychiatric vulnerabilities.

A cross-sectional study with participants recruited from the OLVG hospital was performed. Pregnant patients older than 18 years, literate in either Dutch or English were included. Patients with florid psychosis were excluded. ACEs were self-reported and assessed via the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, pregnancy intention was extracted from the patient database and psychiatric vulnerability was self-reported. The association between ACE and UPs was analyzed by means of logistic regressions, followed by a mediation analysis with psychiatric vulnerability.

A total of 269 participants, mostly with a university degree (66.5%) and with a mean age of 34 (SD 4.306) were included; 20.1% had at least one ACE and 22.3% had an UP. There was no significant association between UPs and a history of ACE regardless of the type and number of ACE.

Future studies should replicate our findings onf the associationimpact of ACEs and psychiatric vulnerabilities on pregnancy intention within a larger, and more representative sample.