Beyond the Trafficker–Victim Dyad: Examining Peer Relationships and Trauma Bonding Across Victim Pathways into and out of Commercial Sexual Exploitation

Commercial sexual exploitation (CSE) is a complex form of interpersonal victimization characterized by force, fraud, and coercion in which individuals engage in sexual activities that generate financial, material, or other benefits for third parties. Although trauma bonding has increasingly been used to explain why victims remain attached to exploiters, less attention has been devoted to the role of peer relationships in shaping pathways into and out of exploitation. This study examined how peer socialization and trauma bonding may influence victim pathways through a secondary qualitative analysis of 78 child sex trafficking investigative case files and 114 application files of adult women voluntarily seeking admission to a residential recovery program serving women currently or formerly involved in the sex industry or identifying as sexually exploited and/or trafficked. Using a theory-building thematic approach, four themes emerged: (1) relationship-based pathways into exploitation through peers, romantic partners, family members, and online contacts; (2) trauma bonding within exploitative relationships and social networks; (3) barriers to exit, including attachment to exploitative networks, substance use, homelessness, and trauma; and (4) recovery supported by recovery-oriented peers, family members, friends, and other supportive relationships. The findings indicate that peer relationships may function as both risk and protective factors. They also raise the possibility that trauma bonding processes may extend beyond trafficker–victim dyads to broader exploitative social networks, although this interpretation remains exploratory and warrants further empirical investigation.