Background Factors of Amateur Prostitution ("Enjo-Kousai") in Japanese High-School Girls

Abstract

The present study aims to clarify factors causing amateur prostitution (in Japanese, "enjo kousai": enjo= support; kousai=dating) in adolescent females. The definition of "enjo kousai"is paid serial sexual behavior. Currently in Japan, this is considered a deviant sexual behavior for adolescent females. Completed questionnaires from 600 randomly sampled high school girls were sorted into 3 groups: experienced, mildly resisting, and strongly resisting. The findings were as follows: (1) young women's attitudes toward amateur prostitution were influenced by their friends' experiences with that behavior; (2) engaging in amateur prostitution was strongly correlated with delinquency; and (3) the group that had engaged in amateur prostitution expressed a strong desire to receive compliments from others or wanted to be viewed by others as outstanding. The results indicated that the adolescent girls who had engaged in amateur prostitution or those who had little resistance to doing so showed the same factors as adolescent girls who were sexually delinquent or sexually active. The typical psychological characteristics of contemporary young people in Japan strongly relate to their attitudes toward amateur prostitution.