Chitra Raghavan
Biographic Data
| ID | 87489 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Chitra Raghavan |
| GIVEN NAMES | Chitra |
| FAMILY NAME | Raghavan |
| SIGNATURE | RAGHAVAN C |
| AFFILIATIONS | John Jay College of Criminal Justice |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 22 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 71 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 22 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2002 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Privilege and Power: Sexual Coercion in Violent Intimate Partner Relationships
Using mixed methods, we explored rates and correlates of sexual coercion (SC) in 137 men remanded to a batterer treatment program. Participants completed the 37-item Multidimensional Sexual Coercion (MSCQ) scale in a detailed assessment of their use of sexually coercive tactics during their current or most recent intimate relationship. Fifty-six participants engaged in some form of SC, and of those, about one-quarter did so more than twenty times…
Self-Concealment as a Trauma Response: Examining the Mediating Role of Shame and Dissociation in the Link Between PTSD Symptoms and Self-Concealment Among Women Who Were Sex-Trafficked
The Reconsecration of the Self: A Qualitative Analysis of Sex Trafficking Survivors’ Experience of the Body
The understudied bodily harm women experience after commercial sex (CS) may be partially explained by the prominence of Cartesian mind-body dualism in psychological science. Accordingly, we qualitatively explored the mind-body relationship among 79 female sex trafficking survivors. Survivors reported long-term negative alterations in feelings about the body, sex, and physical touch posttrafficking and these negative outcomes did not differ across…
Predatory Helpfulness: A Replication (and Expansion) Study Examining Grooming and Recruitment Tactics in Sex Trafficking
Sex trafficking, as defined by the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act (2000), occurs when a trafficker uses force, fraud or coercion to trap their target into exploitative commercial sex work. However, the fraudulent and coercive tactics traffickers use during the initial stages further obscure the exploitative nature of these relationships leading to trafficked women being victimized as criminals or simply overlooked. Basra et al…
Day 1 Panel 3: Aligning the Law With Today's Conceptions of Domestic Violence: Coercive Control, Lethality, and Femicide
Day 1 – October 13, 2022 Keynote Panel 3: Aligning the Law With Today's Conceptions of Domestic Violence: Coercive Control, Lethality, and Femicide
Isolation and Support Dynamics among Women in a Pimp-Based Commercial Sex Ring
Women involved in commercial sex rings are often isolated, with only each other as their primary social supports. Such relationships are marked by competition and distrust, promoting women’s belief that only the trafficker can be trusted. In a novel longitudinal case study, using a grounded theory approach and network analysis, we analyzed the social dynamics of four women and two pimps. Data were derived from approximately 200 wiretapped convers…
Predatory Helpfulness: An Empirical Framework to Identify Fraudulent Tactics Used by Pimps to Recruit and Commercially Sexually Exploit Young Girls and Women
Understanding how traffickers entrap and exploit young girls and women has become crucial to correctly identifying sex trafficking. Research shows that pimps use recruitment techniques of seduction, housing assistance, drugs, and emotional support as well as physical violence, debt bondage, and psychological manipulation to entrap women into commercial sexual exploitation (CSE). This pilot study posits that these seemingly dichotomous methods rep…
Enhancing the Assessment of Coercive Control in Spanish Femicide Cases: A Nationally Representative Qualitative Analysis
Purpose Coercive control is a power dynamic central to intimate partner violence (IPV) and consists of tactics to limit one’s partner’s autonomy through constraint, regulation of everyday life, isolation, pursuit, and intimidation and physical force. Such tactics may potentially signal a risk for future lethal or near lethal violence; hence, proper evaluation may enhance the utility of clinical femicide risk assessments. The goal of this study is…
Not safe for all: A mixed-methods study of violence against men in commercial sex
No voice or vote: Trauma-Coerced Attachment in Victims of Sex Trafficking
Trauma-coerced attachment (TCA)—often referred to as trauma bonding— has been noted and documented across various abusive contexts. TCA involves a powerful emotional dependency on the abusive partner and a shift in world- and self- view, which can result in feelings of gratitude or loyalty toward the abuser and denial or minimization of the coercion and abuse. The current study investigated TCA in a sex-trafficking context. Former victims of sex …
The Impact of Coercive Control on Use of Specific Sexual Coercion Tactics
There is substantial evidence that women experience unwanted sex under nonviolent duress from partners. This study examined the relationship between coercive control and sexual coercion in heterosexual couples. Among a sample of 136 men arrested for domestic violence, extent of coercive control was used to predict the likelihood of using eight specific sexual coercion tactics. Findings indicated that coercive control predicted significantly great…
Coercive controlling behaviors in intimate partner violence in male same-sex relationships: A mixed-methods study
Using mixed methods, we explored the role of coercive controlling behaviors in a high-risk sample of 126 men in violent same-sex relationships. Contrary to a prediction that separate factors of physical violence and coercive control might emerge, a simple principle components analysis supported that male same-sex relationship intimate partner violence (IPV) is essentially unidimensional. Qualitative narratives supported a single latent factor sol…
Interrogation Expectations: Individual and Race/Ethnic Group Variation Among an Adult Sample
A vignette methodology was used to assess interrogation expectations (IE) among a diverse sample of adults. Vocabulary level, comprehension of Miranda rights, and demographic variables were also assessed. Substantial individual and racial/ethnic group variation in IE was found, with Black participants exhibiting significantly lower expectations of police compliance with Miranda protections compared to White participants. Multiple regression analy…
Near-lethal violence in a sample of high-risk men in same-sex relationships
Report from the field: Evaluating an alternative to incarceration program for “highly probable trafficking victims”
Self-Determination and Women's Rights in Muslim Societies
Contradicting the views commonly held by westerners, many Muslim countries in fact engage in a wide spectrum of reform, with the status of women as a central dimension. This anthology counters the myth that Islam and feminism are always or necessarily in opposition. A multidisciplinary group of scholars examine ideology, practice, and reform efforts in the areas of marriage, divorce, abortion, violence against women, inheritance, and female circu…
Sexual Orientation, Social Support Networks, and Dating Violence in an Ethnically Diverse Group of College Students
Male peer support theory is based on same-gender influences on men perpetrating dating violence against women. However, research indicates that male peer support theory might not hold for cross-gender influences and lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) relationships. This study examined across sexual orientation the composition of social support networks and their influence on dating violence in an ethnically diverse group of college students. The re…
Community Violence and Its Direct, Indirect, and Mediating Effects on Intimate Partner Violence
The links among social disorder, violence in the social support network (NIPV), community violence, and women's substance use were examined in a sample of 50 low-income, nonshelter women to predict intimate partner violence (IPV). The authors found that living in a neighborhood with higher levels of social disorder and using substances increased women's exposure to community violence that, in turn, was associated with increased rates of IPV. In a…
I Couldn’t go Anywhere”: Contextualizing Violence and Drug Abuse: A Social Network Study
The authors examine the narratives of 24 substance-addicted welfare recipients to understand how their neighborhoods provide a particular context for substance abuse, violence, and social isolation. The authors also examine the relationships among substance abuse, violence, and social isolation. Overall, these narratives indicate that place of residence influences one’s social networks and exposure to drugs, which subsequently influence women’s e…
The Mediational Role of Relationship Efficacy and Resource Utilization in the Link Between Physical and Psychological Abuse and Relationship Termination
This study examines the roles of physical and emotional abuse and resource utilization, relationship efficacy, and childhood abuse on relationship status (together or separated) in a sample of 69 low-income, nonsheltered battered women. Separate path models were conducted for physical and psychological abuse. Increased physical abuse was related to separated status, increased resource utilization, and decreased efficacy. The effect of physical ab…
The Violent Matrix: A Study of Structural, Interpersonal, and Intrapersonal Violence Among a Sample of Poor Women
One goal of this paper is to present an integrated tripartite model of violence, with a focus on structural violence within an oppression paradigm. Using qualitative and quantitative data from 27 women (70% African American and 30% European American) who participated in a national substance abuse treatment demonstration program, we describe a model of violence in which structural violence is presented within a transactional relationship with inte…
Culture and alexithymia: Mean levels, correlates and the role of parental socialization of emotions
Two studies examined the relationship between culture and alexithymia. In Study 1, mean levels and correlates of alexithymia were examined in 3 cultures: European American (EA), Asian American (AA), and Malaysian college students. Both Asian groups had higher alexithymia levels than the EA group. Somatization was more strongly associated with alexithymia in the Asian groups than in the EA group. Mood and life satisfaction were associated with ale…
Community Violence and Its Direct, Indirect, and Mediating Effects on Intimate Partner Violence
The links among social disorder, violence in the social support network (NIPV), community violence, and women's substance use were examined in a sample of 50 low-income, nonshelter women to predict intimate partner violence (IPV). The authors found that living in a neighborhood with higher levels of social disorder and using substances increased women's exposure to community violence that, in turn, was associated with increased rates of IPV. In a…
No voice or vote: Trauma-Coerced Attachment in Victims of Sex Trafficking
Trauma-coerced attachment (TCA)—often referred to as trauma bonding— has been noted and documented across various abusive contexts. TCA involves a powerful emotional dependency on the abusive partner and a shift in world- and self- view, which can result in feelings of gratitude or loyalty toward the abuser and denial or minimization of the coercion and abuse. The current study investigated TCA in a sex-trafficking context. Former victims of sex …
I Couldn’t go Anywhere”: Contextualizing Violence and Drug Abuse: A Social Network Study
The authors examine the narratives of 24 substance-addicted welfare recipients to understand how their neighborhoods provide a particular context for substance abuse, violence, and social isolation. The authors also examine the relationships among substance abuse, violence, and social isolation. Overall, these narratives indicate that place of residence influences one’s social networks and exposure to drugs, which subsequently influence women’s e…
The Violent Matrix: A Study of Structural, Interpersonal, and Intrapersonal Violence Among a Sample of Poor Women
One goal of this paper is to present an integrated tripartite model of violence, with a focus on structural violence within an oppression paradigm. Using qualitative and quantitative data from 27 women (70% African American and 30% European American) who participated in a national substance abuse treatment demonstration program, we describe a model of violence in which structural violence is presented within a transactional relationship with inte…
Sexual Orientation, Social Support Networks, and Dating Violence in an Ethnically Diverse Group of College Students
Male peer support theory is based on same-gender influences on men perpetrating dating violence against women. However, research indicates that male peer support theory might not hold for cross-gender influences and lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) relationships. This study examined across sexual orientation the composition of social support networks and their influence on dating violence in an ethnically diverse group of college students. The re…
The Impact of Coercive Control on Use of Specific Sexual Coercion Tactics
There is substantial evidence that women experience unwanted sex under nonviolent duress from partners. This study examined the relationship between coercive control and sexual coercion in heterosexual couples. Among a sample of 136 men arrested for domestic violence, extent of coercive control was used to predict the likelihood of using eight specific sexual coercion tactics. Findings indicated that coercive control predicted significantly great…
Enhancing the Assessment of Coercive Control in Spanish Femicide Cases: A Nationally Representative Qualitative Analysis
Purpose Coercive control is a power dynamic central to intimate partner violence (IPV) and consists of tactics to limit one’s partner’s autonomy through constraint, regulation of everyday life, isolation, pursuit, and intimidation and physical force. Such tactics may potentially signal a risk for future lethal or near lethal violence; hence, proper evaluation may enhance the utility of clinical femicide risk assessments. The goal of this study is…
The Reconsecration of the Self: A Qualitative Analysis of Sex Trafficking Survivors’ Experience of the Body
The understudied bodily harm women experience after commercial sex (CS) may be partially explained by the prominence of Cartesian mind-body dualism in psychological science. Accordingly, we qualitatively explored the mind-body relationship among 79 female sex trafficking survivors. Survivors reported long-term negative alterations in feelings about the body, sex, and physical touch posttrafficking and these negative outcomes did not differ across…
Coercive controlling behaviors in intimate partner violence in male same-sex relationships: A mixed-methods study
Using mixed methods, we explored the role of coercive controlling behaviors in a high-risk sample of 126 men in violent same-sex relationships. Contrary to a prediction that separate factors of physical violence and coercive control might emerge, a simple principle components analysis supported that male same-sex relationship intimate partner violence (IPV) is essentially unidimensional. Qualitative narratives supported a single latent factor sol…
The Mediational Role of Relationship Efficacy and Resource Utilization in the Link Between Physical and Psychological Abuse and Relationship Termination
This study examines the roles of physical and emotional abuse and resource utilization, relationship efficacy, and childhood abuse on relationship status (together or separated) in a sample of 69 low-income, nonsheltered battered women. Separate path models were conducted for physical and psychological abuse. Increased physical abuse was related to separated status, increased resource utilization, and decreased efficacy. The effect of physical ab…
Culture and alexithymia: Mean levels, correlates and the role of parental socialization of emotions
Two studies examined the relationship between culture and alexithymia. In Study 1, mean levels and correlates of alexithymia were examined in 3 cultures: European American (EA), Asian American (AA), and Malaysian college students. Both Asian groups had higher alexithymia levels than the EA group. Somatization was more strongly associated with alexithymia in the Asian groups than in the EA group. Mood and life satisfaction were associated with ale…
The Violent Matrix: A Study of Structural, Interpersonal, and Intrapersonal Violence Among a Sample of Poor Women
One goal of this paper is to present an integrated tripartite model of violence, with a focus on structural violence within an oppression paradigm. Using qualitative and quantitative data from 27 women (70% African American and 30% European American) who participated in a national substance abuse treatment demonstration program, we describe a model of violence in which structural violence is presented within a transactional relationship with inte…
I Couldn’t go Anywhere”: Contextualizing Violence and Drug Abuse: A Social Network Study
The authors examine the narratives of 24 substance-addicted welfare recipients to understand how their neighborhoods provide a particular context for substance abuse, violence, and social isolation. The authors also examine the relationships among substance abuse, violence, and social isolation. Overall, these narratives indicate that place of residence influences one’s social networks and exposure to drugs, which subsequently influence women’s e…
The Mediational Role of Relationship Efficacy and Resource Utilization in the Link Between Physical and Psychological Abuse and Relationship Termination
This study examines the roles of physical and emotional abuse and resource utilization, relationship efficacy, and childhood abuse on relationship status (together or separated) in a sample of 69 low-income, nonsheltered battered women. Separate path models were conducted for physical and psychological abuse. Increased physical abuse was related to separated status, increased resource utilization, and decreased efficacy. The effect of physical ab…
Community Violence and Its Direct, Indirect, and Mediating Effects on Intimate Partner Violence
The links among social disorder, violence in the social support network (NIPV), community violence, and women's substance use were examined in a sample of 50 low-income, nonshelter women to predict intimate partner violence (IPV). The authors found that living in a neighborhood with higher levels of social disorder and using substances increased women's exposure to community violence that, in turn, was associated with increased rates of IPV. In a…
Self-Determination and Women's Rights in Muslim Societies
Contradicting the views commonly held by westerners, many Muslim countries in fact engage in a wide spectrum of reform, with the status of women as a central dimension. This anthology counters the myth that Islam and feminism are always or necessarily in opposition. A multidisciplinary group of scholars examine ideology, practice, and reform efforts in the areas of marriage, divorce, abortion, violence against women, inheritance, and female circu…
Sexual Orientation, Social Support Networks, and Dating Violence in an Ethnically Diverse Group of College Students
Male peer support theory is based on same-gender influences on men perpetrating dating violence against women. However, research indicates that male peer support theory might not hold for cross-gender influences and lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) relationships. This study examined across sexual orientation the composition of social support networks and their influence on dating violence in an ethnically diverse group of college students. The re…
Report from the field: Evaluating an alternative to incarceration program for “highly probable trafficking victims”
Near-lethal violence in a sample of high-risk men in same-sex relationships
Interrogation Expectations: Individual and Race/Ethnic Group Variation Among an Adult Sample
A vignette methodology was used to assess interrogation expectations (IE) among a diverse sample of adults. Vocabulary level, comprehension of Miranda rights, and demographic variables were also assessed. Substantial individual and racial/ethnic group variation in IE was found, with Black participants exhibiting significantly lower expectations of police compliance with Miranda protections compared to White participants. Multiple regression analy…
The Impact of Coercive Control on Use of Specific Sexual Coercion Tactics
There is substantial evidence that women experience unwanted sex under nonviolent duress from partners. This study examined the relationship between coercive control and sexual coercion in heterosexual couples. Among a sample of 136 men arrested for domestic violence, extent of coercive control was used to predict the likelihood of using eight specific sexual coercion tactics. Findings indicated that coercive control predicted significantly great…
Coercive controlling behaviors in intimate partner violence in male same-sex relationships: A mixed-methods study
Using mixed methods, we explored the role of coercive controlling behaviors in a high-risk sample of 126 men in violent same-sex relationships. Contrary to a prediction that separate factors of physical violence and coercive control might emerge, a simple principle components analysis supported that male same-sex relationship intimate partner violence (IPV) is essentially unidimensional. Qualitative narratives supported a single latent factor sol…
Not safe for all: A mixed-methods study of violence against men in commercial sex
No voice or vote: Trauma-Coerced Attachment in Victims of Sex Trafficking
Trauma-coerced attachment (TCA)—often referred to as trauma bonding— has been noted and documented across various abusive contexts. TCA involves a powerful emotional dependency on the abusive partner and a shift in world- and self- view, which can result in feelings of gratitude or loyalty toward the abuser and denial or minimization of the coercion and abuse. The current study investigated TCA in a sex-trafficking context. Former victims of sex …
Day 1 Panel 3: Aligning the Law With Today's Conceptions of Domestic Violence: Coercive Control, Lethality, and Femicide
Day 1 – October 13, 2022 Keynote Panel 3: Aligning the Law With Today's Conceptions of Domestic Violence: Coercive Control, Lethality, and Femicide
Isolation and Support Dynamics among Women in a Pimp-Based Commercial Sex Ring
Women involved in commercial sex rings are often isolated, with only each other as their primary social supports. Such relationships are marked by competition and distrust, promoting women’s belief that only the trafficker can be trusted. In a novel longitudinal case study, using a grounded theory approach and network analysis, we analyzed the social dynamics of four women and two pimps. Data were derived from approximately 200 wiretapped convers…
Predatory Helpfulness: An Empirical Framework to Identify Fraudulent Tactics Used by Pimps to Recruit and Commercially Sexually Exploit Young Girls and Women
Understanding how traffickers entrap and exploit young girls and women has become crucial to correctly identifying sex trafficking. Research shows that pimps use recruitment techniques of seduction, housing assistance, drugs, and emotional support as well as physical violence, debt bondage, and psychological manipulation to entrap women into commercial sexual exploitation (CSE). This pilot study posits that these seemingly dichotomous methods rep…
Enhancing the Assessment of Coercive Control in Spanish Femicide Cases: A Nationally Representative Qualitative Analysis
Purpose Coercive control is a power dynamic central to intimate partner violence (IPV) and consists of tactics to limit one’s partner’s autonomy through constraint, regulation of everyday life, isolation, pursuit, and intimidation and physical force. Such tactics may potentially signal a risk for future lethal or near lethal violence; hence, proper evaluation may enhance the utility of clinical femicide risk assessments. The goal of this study is…
The Reconsecration of the Self: A Qualitative Analysis of Sex Trafficking Survivors’ Experience of the Body
The understudied bodily harm women experience after commercial sex (CS) may be partially explained by the prominence of Cartesian mind-body dualism in psychological science. Accordingly, we qualitatively explored the mind-body relationship among 79 female sex trafficking survivors. Survivors reported long-term negative alterations in feelings about the body, sex, and physical touch posttrafficking and these negative outcomes did not differ across…
Predatory Helpfulness: A Replication (and Expansion) Study Examining Grooming and Recruitment Tactics in Sex Trafficking
Sex trafficking, as defined by the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act (2000), occurs when a trafficker uses force, fraud or coercion to trap their target into exploitative commercial sex work. However, the fraudulent and coercive tactics traffickers use during the initial stages further obscure the exploitative nature of these relationships leading to trafficked women being victimized as criminals or simply overlooked. Basra et al…
Self-Concealment as a Trauma Response: Examining the Mediating Role of Shame and Dissociation in the Link Between PTSD Symptoms and Self-Concealment Among Women Who Were Sex-Trafficked
Privilege and Power: Sexual Coercion in Violent Intimate Partner Relationships
Using mixed methods, we explored rates and correlates of sexual coercion (SC) in 137 men remanded to a batterer treatment program. Participants completed the 37-item Multidimensional Sexual Coercion (MSCQ) scale in a detailed assessment of their use of sexually coercive tactics during their current or most recent intimate relationship. Fifty-six participants engaged in some form of SC, and of those, about one-quarter did so more than twenty times…
Psychology (18 works) · Medicine (12 works) · Social Psychology (12 works) · Poison control (11 works) · Suicide prevention (10 works) · Political science (9 works) · Clinical Psychology (8 works) · Domestic violence (8 works) · Intimate Partner and Family Violence (8 works) · Sex work and related issues (8 works)