What are the short and long term physical and psychological health concerns for young people who experience commercial sexual exploitation?

CSE survivors report significantly higher rates of negative health outcomes compared to their peers, with both physical and mental health challenges documented at alarming rates.

22% indicated their physical health was not good for more than one week in the past month
50% indicated their mental health was not good for more than one week in the past month
51% experienced frequent or severe headaches
57% reported anxiety

CSE survivors face substantial barriers to accessing appropriate healthcare

Self-reported health

Roughly 27% of our sample reported getting less than 8 hours of sleep a night on average. Over 30% also reported that within the past month, poor physical or mental health kept them from doing usual activities (i.e., self-care, work or recreation)

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Source(s) of Data

All Agency Social Media Self-Reported CSE No CSE Reported

Agency: Individuals recruited through partner agencies participating in the study. Social Media: Individuals recruited via Meta advertisements. Self-Reported CSE: Participants who indicated experiencing commercial sexual exploitation by responding yes to one or more of the five items measuring whether they have traded sex for something of value. No CSE Reported: Participants who did not indicate experiencing commercial sexual exploitation, as they did not respond "yes" to any of the five items measuring whether they have traded sex for something of value.

Reported Health Conditions

Of the serious health conditions measured, asthma was most common, experienced by one-fourth of the sample (25%). 35% indicated they experience severe back and or neck pain regularly. A smaller proportion of the sample reported having any type of STD (10%) or specifically HIV (2%).

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Condition	All	Agency	Social Media	Reported CSE	No CSE Reported

Self-reported CSE respondents report worse health than those who do not report-CSE victimization directly on the survey.

Read on the full report to learn more.