TEENAGE GIRLS AND boys who are prostitutes almost never say that they planned to enter prostitution. Most of them report that they became prostitutes out of desperation, because they saw no other way of surviving. Each of these teens has a unique story of how he or she became so desperate. However, experts who have talked with many teen prostitutes have traced some similar experiences in their childhoods. In a study of teenage prostitution among girls, Marjorie Brown writes,

No one can say for certain that a particular background automatically breeds prostitution. However, studies of adult prostitutes reveal several common childhood experiences. . . . One or more of these conditions may occur in girls who became adolescent prostitutes.

Teen prostitutes report that they came from troubled families, and many of them suffered abuse and neglect. Juvenile prostitutes often were very unhappy at...