NCJ Number
123168
Date Published
1986
Length
304 pages
Annotation
This evaluation of the Seattle Youth and Community Services (SYCS), which provides services to help youth successfully exit prostitution and related "street" lifestyles, analyzed the dynamics of interaction between youth and services to understand how the process of change occurs for such youth.
Abstract
SYCS services focus on the provision of basic physical needs, verbal therapy, and training and support for alternative lifestyles. Forty adolescent male and female prostitutes and "street" youth who received SYCS services were interviewed and tracked for 15 months. Integrated procedures of qualitative and quantitative data analyses were used to identify factors and attributes precipitating youths' decisions to seek or sever links with services and continue or discontinue prostitution and "street" behavior. The study concluded that within the existing service structure, 25-30 percent of participating "street" youth will change their lifestyles. The youth who successfully exited "street" lifestyles compared to those who have not exited experienced less child abuse prior to street involvement, had spent more time with parents or parental figures, and had become involved in street life at a later age. The primary evaluation recommendation is that programs move toward self-help models that involve youth in provision for their own needs, decisionmaking in program operations, and services to other youth. 7 figures, 11 tables, questionnaire, 19 references.