 Giving a voice to adolescents in residential care: Knowledge and perceptions of commercial sexual exploitation and runaway behaviorNoemí Pereda, Marta Codina, Diego A. Díaz-Faes and Bárbara Kanter Children and Youth Services Review, 2022, vol. 141, issue C Abstract: Commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) is a multifaceted global phenomenon in which adolescents involved in the child welfare system form a high-risk population. However, studies conducted in European countries remain scarce. We recruited a sample of 67 adolescents (50.7% girls and 47.8% boys) aged between 13 and 18 years old (M = 15.8; SD = 2.2) in residential care in the child welfare system in the south-east of Spain, and surveyed them about their runaway behavior, knowledge and perception of CSEC, and possible related preventive measures. Using a mixed-methods approach, we found that 47.8% of the adolescents reported having run away from the residential center and 92.5% knew someone that had run away. A total of 71.6% of the adolescents were aware of the problem of CSEC, and demanded more education and protection. They highlighted various motivations for engaging in this type of behavior. The use of ICT emerged as an important risk factor to take into account in prevention programs. Keywords: Sexual exploitation; Runaway behavior; Adolescence; Residential centers; CSEC; Welfare system (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:141:y:2022:i:c:s0190740922002481 DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2022.106612 Access Statistics for this article Children and Youth Services Review is currently edited by Duncan Lindsey More articles in Children and Youth Services Review from Elsevier |
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