Does pregnancy provide immunity from intimate partner abuse among Hong Kong Chinese women?

The level of intimate partner abuse that occurs in Hong Kong Chinese families and the type, nature, and severity of abuse are primary concerns of those who are engaged in efforts to reduce and control abuse. A total of 1200 postnatal women were recruited at a university-affiliated regional public hospital to participate in a study with a retrospective explorative comparative design. The women were identified as abused or non-abused using the Abuse Assessment Screen Questionnaire (AAS). The type, nature, and profile of intimate partner abuse were investigated by using the Revised Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS-2). The vulnerable factors and predictors of abuse during pregnancy were explored in their demographic, psycho-socio-economic-cultural, and obstetric aspects. Analysis of the data indicated that 134 (11.2%) of the women had experienced abuse during pregnancy. The majority of this abuse took the form of psychological aggression (79.1%), and nearly half (49.3%) of the abused women had experienced sexual abuse. The husband was the perpetrator in the majority of cases (82.1%). Women who were younger, born in Hong Kong, single or cohabiting, had poor socio-economic status, a poor partner relationship, and an unplanned pregnancy were more likely to be abused based on multiple logistic regression models of various nature and type of abuse (p<0.05). The findings provide fundamental information for the prevention of intimate partner abuse among the Hong Kong population. The implications, limitations, and future research are discussed.