Citation

Heerde JA, Hemphill SA. J. Investig. Psych. Offender Profil. 2017; 14(2): 150-174.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1002/jip.1473

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Youth homelessness is a multifaceted and significant social problem. For many homeless youth, the risk for exposure to sexual exploitation is high, with the experience of sexual victimization and engaging in sexual risk behaviors and survival sex commonplace. This meta-analysis appraised internationally published literature to investigate the role of risk and protective factors in modifying the occurrence of sexual victimization, sexual risk behaviors, and survival sex among homeless youth. A comprehensive search of psychology, sociology, medicine, health, and criminology electronic abstraction databases was conducted for the period 1990-2016. Search terms included "homeless," "rape," "sexual victimization," "unsafe sex," and "survival sex." The perpetration of sexual offences was included in the search strategy. Eighteen studies, examining sexual victimization, sexual risk behavior, and survival sex, met the inclusion criteria and were included in the meta-analysis. All but two studies were conducted in the United States. No retrieved studies examined sexual offending; hence, this could not be included in the meta-analysis.

FINDINGS showed that substance use, exposure to violence and crime (as victims and perpetrators), childhood abuse, sexual behavior, and peers' antisocial and sexual behavior were unique factors increasing the likelihood for each of sexual victimization, engagement in sexual risk behavior, and engagement in survival sex. Protective factors were peer and family social support. Moderator analyses showed that the influence of risk factors may differ based on study design, sample size, study country of origin, and participant age and gender.

FINDINGS suggest that risk and protective factors may be important mechanisms by which to modify the occurrence of adverse sexual behavior outcomes and better contextualize prevention and early intervention strategies for homeless youth.

Language: en

Keywords

homelessness; meta-analysis; sexual risk behavior; sexual victimization; survival sex; youth