Violence Victimization and Alcohol Use Among Venue-Based Female Sex Workers in Pattaya, Thailand: Unpacking the Temporal Relationship

Jennifer Sherwood; Dusita Phuengsamran; Surang Janyam; Sarah M Murray; Charvonne N Holliday; Niphon Darawuttimaprakorn; Michele R Decker

doi:10.1177/10778012231177997

Violence Victimization and Alcohol Use Among Venue-Based Female Sex Workers in Pattaya, Thailand: Unpacking the Temporal Relationship

Violence Against Women. 2023 May 31:10778012231177997. doi: 10.1177/10778012231177997. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Jennifer Sherwood¹, Dusita Phuengsamran², Surang Janyam³, Sarah M Murray⁴, Charvonne N Holliday⁵, Niphon Darawuttimaprakorn², Michele R Decker⁵

Affiliations

¹ Public Policy Office, amfAR, Foundation for AIDS Research, Washington, DC, USA.
² Institute for Population and Social Research, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand.
³ Service Workers in Group Foundation, Bangkok, Thailand.
⁴ Department of Mental Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, USA.
⁵ Department of Population Family and Reproductive Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, USA.

PMID: 37259530
DOI: 10.1177/10778012231177997

Abstract

Female sex workers (FSWs) face prevalent violence victimization and alcohol consumption at work, yet the bidirectional pathways between these factors are not well defined. Using cohort data from 232 venue-based FSWs in Pattaya, associations of violence and alcohol use were examined within a time period and prospectively via structural equation models. Within the time period, violence victimization and alcohol use were consistently associated; by contrast, violence was not prospectively associated with FSW alcohol use. Findings define alcohol as an important risk factor for violence in sex work environments. Alcohol safety interventions should be explored as a vital component of FSW violence prevention.

Keywords: Thailand; alcohol; female sex workers; prevention; violence.