Sexual Coercion, Trauma, and Sex Work in Justice-Involved Women with Substance Use Disorders

ABSTRACT

Sexual victimization is associated with mental health problems, trauma, substance use, and incarceration. We recruited 200 formerly incarcerated women with substance use disorders in Chicago. We examined whether empowerment moderates relationships between trauma symptoms, trading sex, and being forced to have sex. There was a significant 3-way interaction among sexual coercion, trading, and empowerment scores on trauma symptoms. For women who have not traded sex, lower levels of empowerment were associated with a larger difference in trauma symptoms between women who have been coerced or traded sex. For women who had been coerced, lower levels of empowerment were associated with a larger difference in trauma symptomatology between those who have traded sex or not. Promoting empowerment in sexually traumatized women might reduce the harm that results from being victimized. Furthermore, providing interventions that educate women regarding gender and cultural roles could help women avoid situations that result in exploitation.

KEYWORDS:

• Coercion
• empowerment
• incarcerated women
• sexual aggression
• sexual violence
• substance abuse
• trauma

Funding

The authors appreciate the financial support from the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities (Grant MD002748).

Notes

¹ Women who are currently or formerly incarcerated are generally referred to as justice-involved women, rather than the more stigmatizing words such as offender or inmate.

Additional information

Funding

The authors appreciate the financial support from the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities (Grant MD002748).