Clinical Psychosocial Risk Factors for Sex Trafficking Involvement Among Adolescent Girls.

PURPOSE: This study assessed the characteristics that place adolescent girls at greatest risk for sex trafficking involvement. It was hypothesized that girls with a greater history of risk behaviors, unstable home environments, child maltreatment, and increased psychiatric complexity would be more likely to be involved in domestic minor sex trafficking (DMST). METHODS: Retrospective chart review of two cohorts of adolescent girls, one with known DMST history, and an age-matched cohort without DMST history, was conducted. Patients came from a Child Abuse clinic and primary care clinic within a single large urban children's hospital in the Northeast United States. Multivariate clustering analysis identified two groups of patients within the sample, one sharing "low risk" traits, and one with "high risk" traits. A variable for "psychiatric complexity" and its relationship to DMST risk was assessed. Hypothesis tests of mediation were conducted. RESULTS: 44 DMST patients and 181 Primary Care patients were included in the final sample, who were then grouped into two clusters based on conceptualized "risk" characteristics. Hypothesis testing supported evidence that patients in the "high risk" group tended toward higher psychiatric complexity (p = .0016) and greater likelihood of DMST involvement (p = .0328). Patients with increased psychiatric complexity also tended towards DMST involvement, regardless of "risk" cluster (p < .0001). DISCUSSION: This study demonstrates the relationship between social characteristics, psychiatric problems, and DMST involvement. We demonstrated that adolescents with increased psychiatric complexity tend towards greater risk of DMST. These findings demonstrate the important relationship between psychiatric complexity and sexual victimization.

Adverse Psychiatric and Health Impacts of Restrictive Housing for Adolescents in Juvenile Correctional Settings.

The use of solitary confinement for incarcerated adolescents has been criticized widely, including by the National Commission on Correctional Health Care, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.1-3 Currently, 29 states prohibit the use of punitive solitary confinement in juvenile correctional facilities, and 15 others place time limits on solitary confinement of juveniles.4 However, the use of "restrictive housing," which is broadly defined as an intervention involving removal from the general inmate population, placement in a locked room, or inability to leave the room for the majority of the day, is still commonly practiced. Limited research and guidance exists around this practice and its health impacts on incarcerated adolescents, especially mental health and suicide risk.

Domains of planning for future long-term care of adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities: Parent and sibling perspectives.

BACKGROUND: Research shows that adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) increasingly outlive caregivers, who often struggle to plan for the future and have little support and knowledge surrounding long-term care planning. METHODS: The study team conducted interviews with parents and siblings of adults with IDD and performed qualitative coding using a modified grounded theory to explore domains of future planning and identify barriers and facilitators. RESULTS: Themes from the interviews revealed seven major domains of future planning that should be considered by caregivers of adults with IDD. These domains are housing, legal planning, identification of primary caregiver(s), financial planning, day-to-day care, medical management and transportation. Approaches to planning within each domain varied greatly. CONCLUSIONS: The study team dentified the domain of "identification of primary caregiver(s)" as potentially the most important step for caregivers when planning for the future, but also observed that the domains identified are significantly interrelated and should be considered together.