Vulnerable exposures and outcomes for children of female sex workers in low- and middle-income countries: application of the bioecological vulnerability framework
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Introduction: Children of female sex workers (CFSW) are exposed to unique bioecological vulnerabilities that negatively affect their developmental outcomes. We interviewed 1,280 female sex worker mothers (FSWM) in eight low- and middle-income countries (Angola, Brazil, South Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo, India, Indonesia, Kenya, and Nigeria) between January 16 and October 1, 2019. This exploratory study focused on multilayered exposures from early childhood to adolescence, resulting in maldevelopment and other negative outcomes for CFSW, as reported by their mothers. Methods: as the analytical framework. The interview data included both numerical responses and brief textual answers. Quantitative information was summarized using prevalence estimates, while textual responses were inductively coded and grouped into major categories. Results: FSWM reported that outcomes varied across countries but reflected complex interactions within and between the micro-, meso-, exo-, and macro-systems described by the theoretical framework. Findings revealed that CFSW were exposed to suboptimal child-rearing environments and faced a high prevalence of adverse outcomes. A majority (61%; country range, 45-67%) of daughters entered sex work at an early age (mean age: 14 years; range, 13.5-18 years). Both sons and daughters experienced physical harm (72%; range, 21-85%) and sexual abuse (sons, 57%; daughters, 74%). Daughters were often introduced to sex work as a survival strategy. Reported outcomes also highlighted bioecological vulnerabilities that impeded sons' development, as well as protective environments that supported their healthy growth. These were categorized as follows: (1) vulnerabilities associated with high-risk living environments such as brothels, hotspots, and streets where they were exposed to sex work; (2) negative psychological, physical, and behavioral outcomes, including becoming criminals, victims, and perpetrators of abuse; and (3) protective environments of living away from the mother's work and finding informal work that may mitigate the harmful effects of bioecological vulnerable exposures. Discussion: The CFSW experienced significant threats to healthy development, contributing to adverse physical and psychological developmental outcomes. These findings underscore the urgent need for evidence-based policy directives, interventions, and support.
Fetched live from OpenAlex and de-inverted. Abstracts are not stored in this database: the inverted indexes are 8.6 GB of the frame’s 9.3 GB of text, and the host has 13 GB free.
How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.003 | 0.005 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.002 | 0.002 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.002 | 0.002 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Open science | 0.001 | 0.004 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.002 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".