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

Thank you!

For pdf copy of report:

saewyc@interchange.ubc.ca