Adolescent prostitution refers to a situation whereby the youth of the age below the age of eighteen exchange sex for money. In the mid-1970s, this issue gained national attention as a universal social problem, after the initiation of children’s rights movement and child sexual abuse. Research which was carried out in 1983 by Health and human services department revealed that between 733,000 And 1.3 M adolescents, with the age of twelve to seventeen, ran away from their homes.
Eighty percent of adolescent females who run away from their homes end up in the cities, ending up homeless without necessities (Olofinbiyi et al. 132-136). At this age, nearly all of them have inadequate work experience, less education with no justified residence. This makes it hard for them to get employment, and this makes them t engage in illegal activities to survive.
These adolescents expose themselves to risks which result from child sexual abuse, early sexual experience drug abuse and neglect and physical abuse. According to strain theory, adolescents will engage in criminal behavior when he/she fails to achieve whatever he/she needed, making them engage in illegal acts to obtain what they need. Four models explain when staining leads to a crime (Bagley et al. 8). They include when an adolescent: builds pressure to be involved in criminal coping when seen high in size, when viewed as being unjust and when in a region of low social control.
To prevent our youths from engaging in illegal acts, it is advisable to encourage guardians to ensure that they go to school and they are also provided with requirements. They also need to be well treated so that they can feel comfortable being at their homes instead of that moving all over the streets. Programs to educate students about the risks of illegal acts should also be provided to them to create awareness (Cheung et al. 124-144).
References
Bagley, Christopher A., et al. “Adolescent girls offered alternatives to commercial sexual exploitation: A case study from the Philippines.” Dignity: A Journal on Sexual Exploitation and Violence 2.2 (2017): 8.
Cheung, Chau-kiu, et al. “Engaging adolescent girls in transactional sex through compensated dating.” Journal of Adolescence 52 (2016): 124-134.
Olofinbiyi, B. A., et al. “Adolescent prostitution in south-western Nigeria: demographic characteristics and risk factors.” Tropical Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology 32.1 (2015): 132-136.
