The relationship between commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) and childhood sexual abuse (CSA) among boys and girls in Haiti

Publication Date

12-19-2021

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

International Journal of Injury Control and Safety Promotion

DOI

10.1080/17457300.2021.2004430

Abstract

To test the hypothesis that childhood sexual abuse (CSA) is a risk factor for commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC), we analysed data from the Haiti Violence Against Children Survey (VACS), a population-based sample of adolescents and young adults ages 13–24 (1459 males and 1457 females). Twenty-one percent of males and 25% of females reported CSA; 6% of males and 4% of females reported CSEC. The adjusted odds ratios (AORs) for CSEC based on exposure to CSA were 5.6 (95% confidence interval/CI: 3.1–10.2) for males and 5.9 (CI: 2.6–13.0) for females. For each year earlier that males first experienced CSA, the odds of CSEC increased 60% (AOR 1.6, CI 1.2–2.0). In this first nationally-representative study of lifetime CSEC, both boys and girls victimised by CSA in Haiti were more likely to have also experienced CSEC than other youth, with children who experienced CSA at younger ages at the greatest risk.

Keywords

Adolescents, Haiti, child sexual abuse (CSA), commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC), internally displaced personse (IDP) camps

Department

Social Work

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