Girls’ compensated dating: an outcome of the dynamics of societal features shaping people’s routine activities

This paper presents public description on the compensated dating (CD) of adolescent girls in Chinese society. Data are obtained from 8 focus groups comprising 50 stakeholders (i.e., social workers, police officers, parents of students, and community representatives). This work is a pioneering study that uses qualitative data to describe how the public conceptualizes and contextualizes CD as an outcome of the dynamics of societal features, such as the “a synthesis of different ideologies” and “Internet technology advancement,” a process of the “commercialization of human relationships” and “blurred boundaries between right and wrong”. Societal features are articulated by the routine activity approach developed by Cohen and Felson as macro-level determinants for shaping the daily routine of people, and some of these routines may put people at risk of victimization. The findings of the current study have both conceptual and practical implications. This study depicts the Hong Kong societal features that are perceived by various stakeholders as the factors for driving the CD involvement of adolescent girls, which is in line with the concept of the routine activity approach. The study likewise sheds light on the possible interventions undertaken by stakeholders across groups.