HHS4U: Sexual Abuse In Marital Relationships

Topic: Sexual abuse in marital relationships HHS4U-ESSAY RESEARCH PAPER [Your Name] [Course No.] [Professor] UNIVERSITY 13th MAY 2018 SEXUAL ABUSE IN MARITAL RELATIONSHIPS Topic: Sexual abuse in marital relationships Research Question: What are the causes of marital sexual abuse in Canada? Thesis statement: Although many cases spousal-sexual abuse go unreported, studies have linked the recent rise in reported cases to risk factors such as childhood sexual abuse, low income, pregnancy, mental or physical disability and marital relationship status. Peer Journal Articles: Peer reviewed articles were obtained through an online search on Proquest online research database. The articles were reviewed for relevance to the research topic. Keyword filters were used to search article titles. The Keywords used were ‘Sexual abuse’ ‘Couple sexual abuse’, ‘Spousal-sexual abuse’ ‘sexual abuse in marital relationships’ and ‘Canada’. The peer reviewed filter was used to retrieve to limit the results to peer reviewed journals. The data filter was not used given that it would have restricted access to the most relevant journal articles. The first peer reviewed article is one co-authored by Daigneault, Hebert & McDuff (2009) that explores how childhood sexual abuse subsequently impact sexual abuse in marital relationships. The study focused on both men and women and mainly focused on risk factors. It relied on a stratified national sample of N= 9170 and N= 7823 for women and men respectively. The results showed that there was an association between Childhood Sexual Abuse (CSA) and marital sexual abuse even though it established a stronger association for men than women. While spousal-sexual abuse statistics indicate an unprecedented increase in the recent past, there is need to refocus preventive strategies towards stemming Childhood Sexual Abuse. A reduction in Childhood sexual abuse will subsequently lead to a reduction in sexual abuse in marital relationships. Given the link between drug use and alcoholism and spousal-sexual abuse, resources should be directed toward mitigating these high risk factors. The second article investigated the prevalence of abuse among Canadian women during and after pregnancy. The study conducted by Daoud et al. (2012) utilized a representative national sampl...