Kafafian Matthew, de Vries Ieke, Farrell Amy, Asiedu Christen, Bouchard Elizabeth
School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of Nebraska at Omaha, Omaha, NE, USA.
Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Child Maltreat. 2025 Mar 24:10775595251327745. doi: 10.1177/10775595251327745.
We examined profiles of young people who have been referred to a state child serving agency concerned with identifying commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSE) in the Northeast of the United States before and since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Using comprehensive data from this state child serving agency, our study used latent class analyses and regression analyses to explore changing profiles of young people referred for concerns of CSE since the pandemic. A profile of referred minors whose social settings included CSE-involved people was significantly less common since the onset of the pandemic compared to before the onset of the pandemic. Conversely, a profile of young people with risky online experiences (e.g., sharing sexually explicit media) was significantly more common among CSE referrals since the pandemic began. While extant literature warns of CSE risk in online settings, fewer cases of CSE were identified since the onset of the pandemic. Given the growing importance of online settings and experiences during childhood, supplemental screening practices are needed to better assess the risk of CSE among young people in online settings.
我们调查了在美国东北部新冠疫情暴发前后被转介到一家关注识别儿童商业性剥削（CSE）的州儿童服务机构的年轻人情况。利用该州儿童服务机构的全面数据，我们的研究采用潜在类别分析和回归分析来探究自疫情以来因CSE问题被转介的年轻人情况的变化。与疫情暴发前相比，自疫情暴发以来，社交环境中包括涉及CSE人员的被转介未成年人情况明显不那么常见。相反，自疫情开始以来，有危险在线经历（如分享露骨色情内容）的年轻人情况在CSE转介案例中明显更为常见。虽然现有文献警告在线环境中存在CSE风险，但自疫情暴发以来识别出的CSE案例较少。鉴于童年时期在线环境和经历的重要性日益增加，需要补充筛查措施以更好地评估年轻人在在线环境中遭受CSE的风险。
