Pathways into prostitution among female jail detainees and their implications for mental health services

Objective: To explore the service needs of women in jail, the authors exami ned three pathways into prostitution: childhood sexual victimization, runni ng away, and drug use. Studies typically have explored only one or two of t hese pathways, and the relationships among the three points of entry remain unclear. Methods: Data on 1,142 female jail detainees were used to examine the effects of childhood sexual victimization, running away,and drug use o n entry into prostitution and their differential effects over the Life cour se, Results: Two distinct pathways into prostitution were identified. Runni ng away had a dramatic effect on entry into prostitution in early adolescen ce, but little effect later in the hfe course, Childhood sexual victimizati on, by contrast, nearly doubled the odds of entry into prostitution through out the lives of women. Although the prevalence of drug use was significant ly higher among prostitutes than among nonprostitutes, drug abuse did not e xplain entry into prostitution. Conclusions: Running away and childhood sex ual victimization provide distinct pathways into prostitution, The findings suggest that women wishing to leave prostitution may benefit from differen t mental health service strategies depending on which pathway to prostituti on they experienced.