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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
An Application Of The Coercive Control Framework To Cults, Sarah E. Feliciano
An Application Of The Coercive Control Framework To Cults, Sarah E. Feliciano
Student Theses
The present study utilized the coercive control framework to systematically assess coercion in cults. Former cult members (N=52) of various groups (e.g., psychological & self-help related) were interviewed via telephone for 1.5 to 3 hours. The sample was 67.31% female, 67.31% Caucasian, and 63.46% American; age ranged from 24-68 years old. An existing codebook was used by multiple coders with high intercoder reliability (89.66%). Coercive control tactics were present in all 52 narratives. Manipulation, intimidation, and microregulation were the tactics most frequently utilized. Sexual coercion/abuse, deprivation, and degradation were used least. Data also provided coercive subtactics specific to cults but …
The Cultic Lifecycle: A Thematic Analysis Of Fulfillment And Fear In Cult Membership, Shaelen Grant
The Cultic Lifecycle: A Thematic Analysis Of Fulfillment And Fear In Cult Membership, Shaelen Grant
Student Theses
Prior research on susceptibility to cult recruitment has focused predominately on psychopathological risk factors, such as a prior personality disorder diagnosis and psychiatric and addictive disorders (Feldman & Johnson, 1995; Rousselet et al., 2017). While such studies contribute valuable information, they also inadvertently pathologize cult members. Furthermore, this focus has led to the overlooking of a more crucial question: what basic human desires does cult membership fulfill that cult leaders and recruiters exploit, to recruit and keep members in cults? To address this dearth, research team members interviewed 52 former cult members (N=52) from a variety of groups (e.g., Christian-based, …
Coercive Control In Long Term Sex Trafficking Relationships: Using Exhaustion To Control Victims, Nicole C. Bassil
Coercive Control In Long Term Sex Trafficking Relationships: Using Exhaustion To Control Victims, Nicole C. Bassil
Student Theses
The importance of coercive control tactics in maintaining women in commercial sex has been well-documented. Less known is how these tactics manifest in long-term relationships and how victims cope or react to establish patterns of control. The current study measured the temporal patterning of coercive control in long term sex trafficking relationships via wiretapped phone conversations between pimps and sex trafficked workers. In addition, victim responses of compliance versus resistance to coercive control tactics were measured. 68 phone calls over four months were transcribed and coded between two pimps and four women working in commercial sex. The findings indicate that …
Isolation And Support Dynamics Among Concurrent Victims Of Sex Trafficking, Leslie Unger, Chitra Raghavan
Isolation And Support Dynamics Among Concurrent Victims Of Sex Trafficking, Leslie Unger, Chitra Raghavan
Student Theses
The present study analyzed wiretap data to determine the characteristics of social support among concurrent victims of sex trafficking. Using a grounded theory approach to determine prevalent elements and themes that characterize interactions, conversations between women and conversations between pimps and women that involve concurrent victims as a topic of conversation were examined. A coding scheme was created based on the derived elements, and network patterns were analyzed. Finally, temporal patterns of conflict were examined to determine whether periods of heightened threat were used to punctuate periods of seeming calm, similar to that seen in research on coercive control and …
Elaboration Within Compliance: Linguistic Patterns Within Coercive Control In Sex Trafficking, Jessica Pomerantz
Elaboration Within Compliance: Linguistic Patterns Within Coercive Control In Sex Trafficking, Jessica Pomerantz
Student Theses
This study examines how the use of elaboration as a means of compliance, used by victims of sex trafficking in long-term relationships with their exploiters, supports the presence of chronic coercive control. A discourse analytical framework is used to capture the non-explicit coercive dynamics in conversations between sex workers and their exploiters. This study also employs the theoretical framework of coercive control to examine how victims use elaboration as a means of compliance to navigate the implicit and ongoing threats incorporated in an environment of coercive control. Linguistic analyses of the language that victims use with their traffickers compared to …
Functional Isolation: Understanding Isolation In Trafficking Survivors, Liz Mahan
Functional Isolation: Understanding Isolation In Trafficking Survivors, Liz Mahan
Student Theses
This study examined how traffickers used different elements of isolation and how such tactics may have contributed to the traffickers’ success in maintaining control over the victim. I examined in-depth narratives from 14 women between the ages of 20-53, primarily immigrants, who were recruited from an agency serving victims of sex trafficking in a large metropolitan city. The tactics used by traffickers varied and included not only the commonly defined structural isolation in which victims are restricted physically and socially, but also included a shrinking of safe social space and an elimination of privacy and social support. The latter is …