RT info:eu-repo/semantics/article
T1 Surviving the violence, humiliation, and loneliness means getting high: Violence, loneliness, and health of female sex workers
A1 Pinedo González, Ruth
A1 Palacios Picos, Andrés
A1 Iglesia Gutiérrez, Myriam de la
K1 Public Health
K1 Prostitution
K1 Alcohol and drugs
K1 Mental health and violence
K1 Prostitution
K1 Alcohol y drogas
K1 Salud mental y violencia
K1 Prostitución
K1 6114 Psicología Social
K1 3212 Salud Publica
AB Sex workers are particularly vulnerable to violence, isolation, and stigmatization. This study uses the theory of loneliness to explore the relations among violence, self-esteem, loneliness, health, and drug use. Specifically, this study tested a model in which loneliness mediates the relationship between situational (violence) and characterological (self-esteem) loneliness factors and physical and psychological health and drug abuse. The study sample consisted of 146 sex workers from one region of Spain, recruited through the purposive sampling method. Partial least squares (PLS) path modeling has been employed to test the hypothesis. The findings of this study suggest that two kinds of violence (physical and psychological) have a direct and positive influence on loneliness, so that higher levels of violence increase loneliness, while self-esteem has a protector role on loneliness. Loneliness has a direct and negative impact on psychological and physical health, and determines an increase in drug use, which, in turn, decreases both physical and psychological health. The results support, among other points, that policy makers and sex worker service programs need to be aware of how loneliness plays a role in the health and risk behavior of sex workers. Society has an important role to improve sex workers’ health and minimize their risk behavior.
PB Sage Journals
SN 0886-2605
YR 2018
FD 2018
LK https://uvadoc.uva.es/handle/10324/65912
UL https://uvadoc.uva.es/handle/10324/65912
LA eng
NO Journal of Interpersonal Violence, vol. 36, n. 9–10, 4593–4614
NO Producción Científica
DS UVaDOC
RD 21-may-2024