Abstract
Although numerous studies have looked at what lay people think of sex workers, comparatively few studies have directly looked at the sex workers themselves. The current study compared a cohort of predominantly female sex workers with a matched control across several personality constructs (including the Big Five, the Dark Triad, and Life History). Some of the observed differences in personality included higher scores of conscientiousness and higher scores of openness to experience in the sex worker group. The sex worker group also showed higher scores in machiavellianism. A variety of indicators of a faster Life History Strategy were also found in the sex worker cohort including an earlier age of first menarche and age of first drug use.
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The work reported in this manuscript was supported by a student research fund grant awarded to the third author and a faculty research fund grant awarded to the first author.
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The authors wish to thank Jennifer Wolfley for her assistance in the data collection process and Brad J. Sagarin for his feedback on an earlier draft of the manuscript. The work reported in this manuscript was supported by a student research fund grant awarded to the third author and a faculty research fund grant awarded to the first author.
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Edlund, J.E., Carter, Z. & Cabrera, N. Personality Traits of Sex Workers. Sexuality & Culture 27, 450–461 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-022-10021-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-022-10021-7