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Mexican sex workers recruited as teens at increased risk for HIV, sexual violence
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Adolescents who migrated from Mexico and Central America to the United States and joined the sex trade in Mexico’s border towns were at increased risk for sexual violence and HIV infection compared with sex workers who started as adults, according to a recent study in JAMA.
“More than one in four female sex workers in these northern Mexican cities reported entering the sex trade as minors,” Jay G. Silverman, PhD, of the San Diego School of Medicine at the University of California, and colleagues wrote. “Entering the sex trade as an adolescent vs. as an adult was associated with a greater risk for HIV infection, which may relate to elevated risks for violence to force participation in commercial sex.”
The researchers compiled a cohort of 603 female sex trade workers from Tijuana and Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, between March 2013 and January 2014. The participants were questioned via a confidential computer-assisted survey. Questions assessed whether they initiated sex work as an adolescent (aged 16 to 17 years), early adolescent (aged younger than 16 years), or as an adult. The survey also screened for frequency of clients, condom use and sexual violence. This information was used to calculate HIV exposure.
Results showed that 25.4% of participants entered the sex trade as an adolescent, with 11.8% reporting that they began sex work as an early adolescent. Study participants who entered the sex trade as adolescents were more likely to report violence associated with commercial sex than participants who entered as adults (adjusted OR = 2.5; 95% CI, 1.2-5.2).
Study results also showed that participants who became sex workers as teens were more likely to be infected with HIV vs. those who started as adults (aOR = 3.1; 95% CI, 1.1-9.3).
“Efforts to effectively protect adolescents vulnerable to sex trade entry and assist adolescents in the sex industry are needed,” Silverman and colleagues wrote. – by David Costill
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial
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