Sex industry exposure over the life course on the onset and frequency of sex offending

• Study tested whether offending patterns are affected by sex industry exposure.
• Adolescent exposure was related to an earlier age of onset.
• Adult exposure influenced greater frequency in offending, with caveats.
• Research implications are discussed.

PurposeResearch has examined pornography use on the extent of offending. However, virtually no work has tested whether other sex industry experiences affect sex crime. By extension, the cumulative effect of these exposures is unknown. Social learning theory predicts that exposure should amplify offending. Separately, the developmental perspective highlights that the timing of exposure matters.MethodsDrawing on retrospective longitudinal data, we first test whether exposure during adolescence is associated with a younger age of onset; we also examine whether adulthood exposure is linked with greater frequency of offending.ResultsFindings indicate that most types of adolescent exposures as well as total exposures were related to an earlier age of onset. Exposure during adulthood was also associated with an overall increase in sex offending, but effects were dependent on “type.”ConclusionThere are nuances in the effect of sex industry exposure on offending patterns. Implications of results are discussed.