About Our Projects
Sexual Acts or Materials for Pay or Compensation (SAMP) is a complex public health issue, with important consequences for many young adults. As internet use has grown, so have online forms of SAMP, such as sharing photos or webcamming. However, most research on this topic is limited. Many studies use just one question, like asking if someone has ever traded sex for money or drugs. This kind of question misses important details, such as:
- The type of activity (online vs. in-person)
- Methods of SAMP (sharing online photos, sugaring, etc.)
- The reasons someone engaged in SAMP (such as financial need or experiencing force from another person)
- The type of compensation received (money, food, housing, substances, etc.)
- The risks involved (like unprotected sex or victimization)
- Ways people may reduce harm or protect themselves
To better understand these experiences, we created a more detailed tool called the SAMP Index. This tool asks about different behaviors and the context around them, including compensation, circumstances, risks, and harms. We tested this tool with university students and found that both online and in-person SAMP may be more common than earlier research has suggested, and that the motivations and consequences associated with SAMP are more complex than we once thought.
The current project builds on our previous work, and has three main goals:
- Improve the SAMP index for use with the general (non-university) population by working with people who have lived experience through interviews and focus groups;
- Use the improved tool to estimate how common SAMP is, and to understand related experiences (such as mental health, substance use, and violence) in a sample of young adults (18-34) whose characteristics resemble the US population;
- Study these same experiences in a separate group of young adults (ages 18–34) who have engaged in at least one SAMP behavior.
Innovative Approaches to Understanding How, Why and Under What Conditions Young People Trade Virtual and In-Person Sex
Funder: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
SAMP is a complex public health issue. Significant increases in internet usage have drastically changed the landscape of virtual sex trades (e.g., photos, webcamming). However, our understanding of SAMP is methodologically limited, as it most often relies on a single item, e.g., “have you ever traded sex for money or drugs?” Extant research does not differentiate between sex trade types (e.g., virtual vs. in-person), circumstances (e.g., economic need), compensation type (e.g., money, substances), risks (e.g., unprotected sex, victimization) and protective factors (e.g., harm reduction strategies). We have developed a multi-item SAMP index measure to identify behaviors and their associated compensations, circumstances, risks, and harms. We validated our measure in a sample of university students, and found that in-person and virtual SAMP may be more widespread and relevant to a larger segment of the population than previously assumed. This novel, multi-phase, mixed-methods project has 3 objectives:
Refine and improve our SAMP index measure for the general population by using interviews and focus groups with people of lived experiences;
Examine the characteristics in a non-probability sample of young people who have engaged in at least one SAMP behavior (ages 18-34);
Use the resulting measure to identify the prevalence and associated characteristics (e.g., adverse experiences, substance use, mental health problems, and violence) of SAMP in a nationally representative sample of young adults (ages 18-34).