Department of Sexology, Université du Québec à Montréal, Montréal, Québec, Canada.
Interdisciplinary School of Health Sciences, Ottawa University, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
PLoS One. 2023 Aug 3;18(8):e0283240. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0283240. eCollection 2023.
Despite the large body of research on violence against women, violence that specifically targets women's reproductive autonomy and control over their reproductive health, called reproductive coercion (RC), is poorly documented in Canada. The purpose of this study is to determine the prevalence of RC behaviors in an adult Canadian community sample and to explore associated factors.
A self-report online questionnaire was administered from September 2020 to April 2021 in Quebec and Ontario, Canada. Participants were recruited via social media, sexual and reproductive health clinics, community-based anti-violence organizations, and the project's partner organizations. The questionnaire contained validated RC questionnaire items and new items drawn from previous qualitative work. The sample comprised 427 participants, mostly self-identified as women (92%), aged 18 to 55 years (M = 29.01; SD = 6.64). Descriptive analyses and binary logistic regressions were conducted using SPSS 27.
The results of this study show that 63.9% of participants reported at least one lifetime experience of RC. According to our data, contraceptive sabotage was the most common form (62.8%). Of the participants who had been pregnant, 9.8% reported control of pregnancy outcomes. Each RC category shows a different pattern of correlates. The findings also reveal that intimate partner violence (IPV) increases the likelihood of contraceptive sabotage. Moreover, the study suggests that low education level and IPV increase the risk for control of pregnancy outcomes.
These findings underscore the importance of RC in the lives of many Canadian individuals with the capacity to be pregnant, and they highlight certain factors that place individuals at greater risk for RC. This knowledge can inform the development of prevention efforts and clinical interventions.
尽管有大量关于针对妇女暴力的研究，但针对妇女生殖自主权和对生殖健康的控制的暴力行为，即生殖强制（RC），在加拿大却鲜有记录。本研究旨在确定成年加拿大社区样本中 RC 行为的流行程度，并探讨相关因素。
2020 年 9 月至 2021 年 4 月，在加拿大魁北克省和安大略省进行了一项在线自报问卷研究。参与者通过社交媒体、性健康和生殖健康诊所、基于社区的反暴力组织以及项目的合作伙伴组织招募。问卷包含经过验证的 RC 问卷项目和从之前的定性工作中提取的新项目。该样本由 427 名参与者组成，大多数自认为是女性（92%），年龄在 18 至 55 岁之间（M=29.01；SD=6.64）。使用 SPSS 27 进行描述性分析和二项逻辑回归分析。
本研究结果表明，63.9%的参与者报告至少有一次 RC 经历。根据我们的数据，避孕破坏是最常见的形式（62.8%）。在曾经怀孕的参与者中，9.8%报告控制了妊娠结局。每一种 RC 类别都呈现出不同的相关模式。研究结果还表明，亲密伴侣暴力（IPV）增加了避孕破坏的可能性。此外，研究表明，教育程度低和 IPV 增加了控制妊娠结局的风险。
这些发现强调了 RC 在许多有生育能力的加拿大个人生活中的重要性，并突出了某些因素，这些因素使个人面临更大的 RC 风险。这些知识可以为预防工作和临床干预的制定提供信息。
