Prevalence of Transactional Sex among High School Students in Minnesota
Lauren Martin, PhD; Caroline Palmer, JD & Nic Rider, PhD | September 23 | 10:00-11:00 AM
Topic: Research | Knowledge Level: Beginner
Transactional sex – survival sex, sexual exploitation, and trafficking – among youth can result in significant and lasting harms. It is illegal, dangerous, stigmatized, and hard to study. Most research uses non-probability samples because representative sampling is nearly impossible, and there is a paucity of population-based data. What is the prevalence of transactional sex among Minnesota high school students? How do rates vary by demographics, relevant experiences, and correlated health indicators? This research study uses data from the 2019 Minnesota Student Survey (MSS), a tri-annual surveillance program administered in public school districts. The analysis sample included 71,007 students who answered the question (y/n): “Have you ever traded sex or sexual activity to receive money, food, drugs, alcohol, a place to stay, or anything else?” Overall, 1.4% of high school students reported trading sex. Similar rates characterize cisgender girls (1.4%) and boys (1.3%); a higher rate distinguishes transgender students (5.9%). Rates vary by race/ethnicity, geography, other relevant experiences, and health indicators; e.g., among youth who reported substance use, 15% also indicated trading sex. Using the rate of 1.4% and Census data, researchers estimate that at least 5,000 Minnesota youth are involved in transactional sex. This is likely an undercount. The MSS is administered on one day during school. Students most likely to answer yes are also the students least likely to attend school due to bullying, expulsion, push out, and more. This data is a call to action and helps answer a long-standing debate about actual extent of transactional sex among youth people.
Presentation Objectives:
· Provide new data to help answer questions about the prevalence, scope and scale of youth involved in transactional sex (includes survival sex, exploitation and trafficking)
· Describe the methods and results from a secondary analysis of a population-based dataset administered in Minnesota high schools that added a question about transactional sex in 2019
· Identify implications for prevention, policy, and practice from this new prevalence data