University Students Who Report Providing Sexual Services,Acts,or Materials for Financial Compensation: Survey Results at a Public,Midwestern University

Abstract

Young adults provide sexual services, acts, or materials for pay or financial compensation (SSAMP), which include in-person (e.g., contact), virtual (e.g., videos), and material (e.g., underwear) forms. Whether and how university students provide SSAMP in the United States is not well understood primarily because of a lack of survey-based research using methodologically rigorous measures in university contexts. Therefore, we sought to understand the characteristics of and conditions under which undergraduate and graduate students provide SSAMP. We conducted a cross-sectional survey of students at a public, Midwestern university. Participants were 875 undergraduate and graduate students (M_age = 21.88 years [SD = 4.77]); 57.4% cisgender women; 64.1% white). We conducted a descriptive analysis using a multi-item SSAMP measure to assess acts, reasons, compensations, harm-reduction strategies, and perceived health, violence, interpersonal, and financial consequences of SSAMP. The 120 students (13.7% of the sample) who reported any SSAMP were more likely to be first-generation university students, trans or nonbinary, LGBQ+, disabled, and reported difficulty meeting basic needs. Among those who provided SSAMP, 42% reported being personally empowered but about a third reported doing so to please someone and/or because they were pressured in a way that they could not say no, most commonly by an intimate partner. Half reported receiving compensation for basic needs. Students reported using harm-reduction strategies to provide SSAMP and experiencing diverse consequences such as increased self-esteem or confidence (27.6%), discovering aspects of sexuality (26.5%), worse mental health (25.5%), difficulty dating (25.3%), feeling fetishized (23.5%), and unwanted sexual contact (22.3%). To our knowledge, this is the first study to provide a nuanced understanding of SSAMP among university students using multi-item survey measures. Future research should replicate in different university contexts and conduct longitudinal research to better inform harm-reducing practices and policies.