Which comes first: Sexual exploitation or other risk exposures among street-involved youth?
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Which comes first: Sexual exploitation or other risk exposures among street-involved youth? Dr. Elizabeth Saewyc UBC School of Nursing Vancouver
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Which comes first: Sexual exploitation or other risk exposures among street-involved youth?. Dr. Elizabeth Saewyc UBC School of Nursing Vancouver. Co-authors and Funding Acknowledgments. Dr. Laura MacKay Dr. Angela Henderson Dr. Maya Peled Melissa Northcott Funded by CIHR’s - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
Transcript of Which comes first: Sexual exploitation or other risk exposures among street-involved youth?
Which comes first: Sexual exploitation or other risk exposures among street-involved youth?
Dr. Elizabeth SaewycUBC School of Nursing
Vancouver
Dr. Elizabeth SaewycUBC School of Nursing
Vancouver
Co-authors and Funding Acknowledgments
Dr. Laura MacKay Dr. Angela Henderson Dr. Maya Peled Melissa Northcott
Funded by CIHR’s Institute for Population & Public Health Institute of Gender & Health Office of Ethics
Street-involvement
Creates health challenges for youth
Risk-laden environments Unstable housing Alcohol and drugs Violence Infectious disease Erratic access to basic necessities Sexual exploitation / survival sex
What is sexual exploitation? In BC, occurs when youth under
age 19 trade sexual activities with adults in exchange for resources such as money, drugs, food, shelter, gifts, transportation or other material considerations
Illegal to exploit, regardless of presumed or explicit consent
But what comes first?
Sexual exploitation due to risk exposures once on the street?
or
Sexual exploitation leads to other risks afterwards?
Purpose
Timing of patterns of risk behaviours among sexually exploited youth in British Columbia
Suggestions for points of intervention to prevent exploitation
Methods
3 surveys of street-involved youth in cities across BC (all regions) SY 2000: 12-19 y.o., n=523 SY 2001: 18-25 y.o. Vancouver only,
n=180 SY 2006: 12-18 y.o., n=762
Participatory epidemiology approach
Methods
Pencil and paper surveys, read aloud
Questions assessed various life experiences, risk behaviours
Included age of first experience, i.e., age first tried marijuana
Analyses
Timing of exploitation calculated as: Prior to other risk behaviour Same year as other risk After other risk
Analyses separately by gender with cross-tabulations with 2 to test gender differences
Results
Percent Sexually Exploited
3233 34
53
2724
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
2000 2001 2006
MalesFemales
Results
In all surveys, both risk exposures and sexual exploitation occur at young ages: Exploitation, 14 to 15 years on average Alcohol & marijuana use, 12 to 13 years Running away and being kicked out, 13
years
Majority experienced other risks first
10-30% other risks, exploited same year
Few gender differences
Leaving home: Kicked out
Males
Both same year19%
Exploited first7%
Kicked out first74%
Females
Both same year18%
Exploited first23%
Kicked out first59%
(SY 2006 data Only)
Leaving home: Running away
SY 2006 All youth
Run first78%
Both same year15%
Exploited first7%
Street involvement
SY 2001 SY 2006
males females
males females
Street involved first 41% 52% 71% 62%
Both same year 22% 22% 22% 28%
Exploited first 37% 26% 7% 10%
Alcohol use
80
10 7
74
13 13
82
126
0
20
40
60
80
100
Alcohol first Both same year Exploited first
20002001
2006
Marijuana use
74
9 10
78
16
7
85
114
0
20
40
60
80
100
Marijuana first Both same year Exploited first
20002001
2006
What does this tell us?
For most youth, sexual exploitation occurs once street-involved after leaving home, and after exposure to alcohol and drugs
All of these exposures happened very early for most youth
What can we do?
Intervening early in the cycle of leaving home, working with families
Services for younger teens with patterns of running away, those newly on the street
