Defining Sex Trafficking: A Systematic Review of the Psychological Literature in the United States
Location
CSU Ballroom
Start Date
2-4-2019 2:00 PM
End Date
2-4-2019 3:30 PM
Student's Major
Psychology
Student's College
Social and Behavioral Sciences
Mentor's Name
Eric Sprankle
Mentor's Department
Psychology
Mentor's College
Social and Behavioral Sciences
Description
Introduction: While efforts to raise awareness about sex trafficking have been successful over the past couple years, the issue is becoming increasingly conflated with adult sex work in public policy and media reporting. What is unclear, however, is how psychology researchers are defining sex trafficking in their studies. The purpose of the current study is to conduct a systematic review of the US psychology literature to explore how sex trafficking is academically and scientifically defined. Methods: A funnel approach was used to conduct a systematic review of the literature using PsycINFO with the search terms sex trafficking and psychotherapy or mental health, mental disorders, mental illness, and trauma. Studies were excluded if they were conducted outside the US or if they focused on child sex trafficking. Results: The initial search yielded 268 results. Of those, 23 met inclusion criteria for this review. Out of the 23 studies, 74% included some variation of “force, fraud, or coercion” as part of the definition of what constitutes sex trafficking, whereas 9% of the studies did not include these components. Additionally, 17% of the studies provided no operational definition of sex trafficking. Discussion: The diversity of these results suggests that sex trafficking is often misinterpreted and categorized as sex work. This lack of consistency in the definition of sex trafficking can lead to a harmful conflation with sex work and is an underlying weakness in research on sex trafficking. Future research can broaden this systematic review to include non-US studies.
Defining Sex Trafficking: A Systematic Review of the Psychological Literature in the United States
CSU Ballroom
Introduction: While efforts to raise awareness about sex trafficking have been successful over the past couple years, the issue is becoming increasingly conflated with adult sex work in public policy and media reporting. What is unclear, however, is how psychology researchers are defining sex trafficking in their studies. The purpose of the current study is to conduct a systematic review of the US psychology literature to explore how sex trafficking is academically and scientifically defined. Methods: A funnel approach was used to conduct a systematic review of the literature using PsycINFO with the search terms sex trafficking and psychotherapy or mental health, mental disorders, mental illness, and trauma. Studies were excluded if they were conducted outside the US or if they focused on child sex trafficking. Results: The initial search yielded 268 results. Of those, 23 met inclusion criteria for this review. Out of the 23 studies, 74% included some variation of “force, fraud, or coercion” as part of the definition of what constitutes sex trafficking, whereas 9% of the studies did not include these components. Additionally, 17% of the studies provided no operational definition of sex trafficking. Discussion: The diversity of these results suggests that sex trafficking is often misinterpreted and categorized as sex work. This lack of consistency in the definition of sex trafficking can lead to a harmful conflation with sex work and is an underlying weakness in research on sex trafficking. Future research can broaden this systematic review to include non-US studies.
Recommended Citation
Virnala, Tasia and Raina Kor. "Defining Sex Trafficking: A Systematic Review of the Psychological Literature in the United States." Undergraduate Research Symposium, Mankato, MN, April 2, 2019.
https://cornerstone.lib.mnsu.edu/urs/2019/poster-session-B/7
