Is there a link between prostitution and past child abuse?
Within the category of sex crimes, the patterns were even more varying and complex. Sexually abused children and neglected children had significantly elevated risks for prostitution in both bivariate and multivariate analyses (Odds Ratios = 27.7 and 10.2, respectively). Physically abused children experienced significantly increased risk in bivariate analysis, but when demographic characteristics and approximate socioeconomic status were controlled for, the relationship became insignificant. (Widom 1995;Widom & Kuhns 1996) When the analysis was done separately for each gender, the pattern of increased risk for prostitution remained for females, but not for males. (Widom & Kuhns 1996) For rape and sodomy a different pattern appears. For these crimes, only those children(4) who suffered physical abuse were at significantly increased risk of arrest. These children were 7.6 times more likely than controls to be arrested for such offenses. (Widom 1995) These findings suggest that while all m
