Childhood Maltreatment and Child Protective Services Involvement Among the Commercially Sexually Exploited: A Comparison of Women Who Enter as Juveniles or as Adults

A risk for commercial sexual exploitation is childhood maltreatment. It's unknown whether juveniles in commercial sexual exploitation experience more childhood maltreatment than adults or how involved child protective services is in investigating maltreatment, a focus of this study. Women (N = ...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of child sexual abuse 2017-04, Vol.26 (3), p.352-371
Main Authors: Cimino, Andrea N., Madden, Elissa E., Hohn, Kris, Cronley, Courtney M., Davis, Jaya B., Magruder, Karen, Kennedy, M. Alexis
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Adults
Age Factors
Caregivers
Child
Child Abuse
Child abuse & neglect
Child Abuse - statistics & numerical data
Child Abuse, Sexual - statistics & numerical data
Child Protective Services - statistics & numerical data
Child sexual abuse
Child Welfare
Childhood
Children
CPS investigations
Cross-Sectional Studies
Exploitation
Female
Human Trafficking - statistics & numerical data
Humans
Middle Aged
Minors
physical abuse
prostitution
Questionnaires
Risk Factors
Runaways
sex work
Sex Work - statistics & numerical data
Sexual abuse
Surveys and Questionnaires
Women
Young Adult
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Summary:A risk for commercial sexual exploitation is childhood maltreatment. It's unknown whether juveniles in commercial sexual exploitation experience more childhood maltreatment than adults or how involved child protective services is in investigating maltreatment, a focus of this study. Women (N = 96) who sold sex commercially completed a cross-sectional questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, t tests, chi-squares, and odds ratios were used to examine differences in background, childhood maltreatment, and child protective services involvement by juvenile or adult entry. Although 93% of participants experienced child maltreatment, juveniles had increased odds of parent/caregiver sexual abuse, being left alone, being kicked out, and running away from a parent/caregiver. There were no differences in cumulative childhood maltreatment resulting in an investigation or removal, indicating that juveniles not investigated or removed by child protective services had as much childhood maltreatment as juveniles who were investigated or removed by child protective services. Results highlight the need for child welfare staff to recognize childhood maltreatment as risks for commercial sexual exploitation.
ISSN:1053-8712
1547-0679
DOI:10.1080/10538712.2017.1282575