The Psychological Experience of Child and Adolescent Sex Trafficking in the United States: Trauma and Resilience in Survivors.

摘要

This project analyzed the narratives of face-to-face interviews with 6 survivors of child/adolescent sex trafficking to assess factors that influenced their ability to survive, leave the sex trade, and reintegrate back into the community. To date, no empirical data has been published examining the psychological experience of survivors of child sex trafficking in the form of prostitution, nor does current scientific data suggest how women and children are recruited and sold for sex within the United States. The pattern of sex trafficking in the United States that emerged from this project is based on the pimp-prostitute-john system, which appears to be qualitatively different from the international sex trade, which relies on a system of organized crime. All 6 female participants, ranging in age from 22 to 55 years, were victims of child sex trafficking in the form of prostitution prior to age 18 years and spent an average of 8 years in the sex trade. In regard to ethnicity, 4 participants identified as African American, 1 identified as Caucasian, and 1 identified as Mixed. Data analysis was conducted through a general 4-step narrative analysis process. Thematic data analysis revealed 27 themes, 11 categories, and 6 concepts representing participants' psychological experiences of child sex trafficking. The 6 concepts that emerged were (a) predisposing vulnerability, (b) recruitment, (c) threat to life, (d) systemic isolation, (e) motivation to exit the lifestyle, and (f) resiliency. Data was analyzed with an ecological systems model, and a number of patterns emerged within participants' microsystems, mesosystems, and macrosystems. In the survivor microsystem, participants' insecure attachments led to their vulnerability to recruitment; at the level of the mesosystem unsafe relationships contributed to increased emotional insecurities; at the level of the macrosystem, participants were raised in environments that desensitized them to prostitution. In regard to escape and resilience, in the survivor microsystem participants left the sex trade because of pregnancy or mental health symptoms; at the level of the mesosystem, participants needed safe relationships and increased self-worth; at the level of the macrosystem, once participants left the industry they began processing their traumatic experiences through the mental health system.