An Explorative Study of Coping Mechanisms Towards Vulnerability and Victimization Within Commercial Sexual Exploitation in India

Trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation constitutes more than 59% of the entire trafficking industry. An efficient rehabilitation model reflects the utilization of the victim's coping mechanism to overcome the stress and trauma of past victimization. The main aim of the study is to explore various coping mechanisms utilized by both victims of commercial sexual exploitation and individuals vulnerable to commercial sexual exploitation at rehabilitation and protective homes in India. The research utilized the participatory action research with stress coping behavior scale to understand the various employed coping mechanism by the beneficiaries of rehabilitation and protective (R&P) homes. In total, 30 victims of commercial sexual exploitation and 30 individuals vulnerable to commercial sexual exploitation, aged 18-50 years, participated in the study. The statistical analysis identified pursual of specific coping by participants and measured risk ratio reflected the relative risk of alcohol and drug use over prior exposure to commercial sexual exploitation.