Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children and Adolescents in Europe: A Systematic Review

Risk and Protective Factors of Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children and Adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa: A Systematic Review

Commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) has emerged as a critical child protection and public health concern in recent years. While the phenomenon is prevalent globally, its impact is compounded in sub-Saharan Africa owing to the cultural and socioeconomic challenges that leave many households in the region vulnerable. The present study synthesized existing evidence using the socioecological model as a guiding framework to assess the risk and protective factors associated with CSEC in sub-Saharan Africa. A protocol for the study was published in PROSPERO (CRD42022331832) with pre-specified inclusion and exclusion criteria. Studies were screened and extracted from eight databases: PsycINFO, Scopus, Web of Science, PROQUEST (Social Science Premium), PubMed, CINAHL, EMBASE, and MEDLINE via Ovid. After an initial screening of 4,377 papers, seven studies were found eligible for the final review. The review followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guide for reporting systematic reviews. Included studies were appraised and rated using the Cambridge Quality Checklist and GRADE. Findings revealed risk factors, including adverse childhood experience and victimization, females aged 16 years and older, school dropouts, technology influence, child and parental alcohol use, and separation from caregivers. On the other hand, protective factors such as the number of female adolescents in a household, frequent health screening in schools, children being in school, and high parental monitoring were found to be associated with a lower risk of CSEC. Based on these findings, we recommend that interventions in sub-Saharan Africa adopt a holistic approach that addresses identified risk factors while harnessing protective factors to combat CSEC effectively.

Instruments for the Identification of Child Sexual Exploitation: A Systematic Review

To perform a systematic search of instruments for the early identification of risk of sexual exploitation in children (CSE) and appraise their metric properties. Searches were conducted in four electronic databases to identify instruments that only evaluated child sexual exploitation with no restrictions of date or language. Two reviewers independently carried out the initial selection of titles and abstracts, appraisal of the methodological quality, compliance with the entry criteria in the analysis, and extraction of data necessary to systematize the information available. Twenty-three articles were found that used 15 CSE detection instruments. The instruments varied with regard to number of questions, ease of administration, sources of information, rating methods, and the training information provided. What they had in common is that most were designed and used in the English-speaking world, basically in the United States, with few instruments providing solid proof of their validity and reliability in the scores derived thereof. Although instruments were obtained with significant similarities in their conceptualization, differences in multiple characteristics made it difficult to draw clear conclusions regarding their greater or lesser suitability. What did become clear was the need to keep working on obtaining rigorous empirical psychometric evidence.

Social Representations and Experiences of Sexual Transactions Among Swiss Youth

This article relies on quantitative data collected in Switzerland as part of a research study on sexual transactions among youth. Building on an analytical framework that defines sexual transactions in terms of negotiated exchanges rooted in social representations, we explored how they were perceived by the Swiss young people included in our sample at a cognitive, ethical, and political level. We found that research participants who reported having experienced sexual transactions viewed them much more positively than those who reported never having engaged in such exchanges. While this was especially true among young women, we also found that the tendency of respondents to perceive sexual transactions negatively increased with age. When analyzed in light of the qualitative results of our study, these quantitative findings suggest that negative representations of sexual transactions are less likely to be based on lived experience than on an ideal-type of sexual behavior. In other words, our research highlights how young people interpret sexuality according to norms developed within a heteronormative matrix.

Forging help relationships with commercially sexually exploited youth: Perspectives of Israeli help providers

BACKGROUND

Previous research points to the many challenges that help providers who support commercially sexually exploited youth encounter in their professional work-yet little is known about how they overcome these challenges, particularly with regard to youth of diverse social backgrounds.

OBJECTIVE

The present study applied the conceptual frameworks of help-seeking and intersectionality to explore the professional practices that help providers employ when forging a help relationship with commercially sexually exploited youth.

PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING

Israeli help providers who work with commercially sexually exploited youth at various social services.

METHOD

In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted, and analyzed using constructivist grounded theory approach.

FINDINGS

We identified six major guiding principles that support the participants' processes of forging a help relationship with commercially sexually exploited youth: Do not assume that the youth view their involvement in commercial sexual exploitation as problematic; Continuously attempt to gain the youth's trust; Start from the point where the youth are; Be available at all times, and maintain a steady long-term relationship; Treat commercially sexually exploited youth as agentic individuals and encourage them to lead the process of establishing a help relationship; Similarity in social backgrounds of help providers and commercially sexually exploited youth promotes youth's engagement in the help relationship.

CONCLUSIONS

Assuming the co-existence of benefit and harm in commercial sexual exploitation is essential to forging a help relationship with the youth. Applying the intersectional lens to practice in this field can help preserve the delicate balance between victimhood and agency, thereby enhancing help processes.

Syndemic Profiles and Sexual Health Risks Among Sexually Exploited Adolescent Girls in Taiwan: A Latent Class Analysis

Sexually exploited adolescent girls are disproportionately affected by adverse psychosocial conditions, such as intra-familial child physical and sexual abuse, extra-familial violence and sexual assault, alcohol and drug use, and suicide. Syndemic theory suggests that these adverse psychosocial or syndemic conditions are concentrated and co-occurring in socially marginalized populations, including sexually exploited adolescents, and increase their sexual health risks, including pregnancy, abortion, and the acquisition of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). To examine clusters of syndemic conditions, latent class analysis (LCA) was conducted to classify 335 sexually exploited girls in Taiwan into subgroups based on their probability of experiencing each syndemic condition. We used syndemic class membership to predict their sexual health outcomes, specifically pregnancy, abortion, and the acquisition of STDs. The results of LCA revealed three classes, which were "low-risk syndemic," "moderate-risk syndemic," and "high-risk syndemic." The risk of acquisition of STDs among sexually exploited girls in the "high-risk syndemic class" and "moderate-risk syndemic class" was 239% and 135% higher, respectively, than the risk of acquisition of STDs among sexually exploited girls in the "low-risk syndemic class." Differences between these three classes in pregnancy and abortion were not significant. Our findings support the syndemic theory that a pattern of syndemic conditions is associated with an increased risk of acquiring STDs. Interventions aimed at reducing the acquisition of STDs among sexually exploited girls in Taiwan should adopt a comprehensive approach to address co-occurring conditions.