Objective: While there is a burgeoning literature on sex trading amongst public university students, there has been a dearth of research conducted at private universities. Participants: We investigated sex trading and sexual exploitation on the population of all undergraduate and graduate students (N= 504) at a private university. Method: We conducted an online survey. Results: 7% had participated in non-coerced sex trading and 16% had experienced coercive sexual exploitation. LGBTQ+ status, alcohol, drugs, food insecurity, housing insecurity and exposure to sex trade recruitment were positively correlated with sex trading. Women, LGBTQ+, and international students were more likely to have experienced sexual exploitation than other students. Alcohol, drugs, food insecurity, housing insecurity, exposure to sex trade recruitment, and participation in sex trading were positively correlated with sexual exploitation. Conclusions: Students would benefit from improved awareness of sex trading and sexual exploitation as well as enhanced resources on and off campus.
Fleisher et al. (Fri,) studied this question.