Ph.D., Antioch University, 2024, Leadership and Change

This dissertation is a contextual autoethnography of my lived experience with stigmatization, stereotypes, and institutional obstructions as a divorced single mother who previously experienced intimate partner violence and was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. The purpose of the study is to shed light on the complexity of the single motherhood experience, both internally and externally. From 2009 to 2019, the institutions I accessed for assistance as a single mother and those I interacted with for my children, my job, my health, and even within the church were unnecessarily burdensome financially, physically, and emotionally. This dissertation takes a contextual look at print media, legal statutes, laws, other domestic violence cases, court cases, and institutional issues in my lifetime that may have affected either those I encountered or my perceptions. While looking at my autoethnography and the contextual experience of the time period, I will also be examining Jack Holland's (2006) A Brief History of Misogyny: The World's Oldest Prejudice to extend his findings into the realm of a single mother's lived experience. Holland's work will show how the dualism of misogyny has infiltrated every institution through patriarchy's ideal conception of family, which uses hegemonic masculinities as its strong-arm enforcer for societal control with stereotypes and stigmatizations as the quickest way to keep single mothers in line. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA (https://aura.antioch.edu/) and OhioLINK ETD Center (https://etd.ohiolink.edu).

Committee: Lemuel Watson EdD (Committee Chair); Fayth Parks PhD (Committee Member); Gail Ukockis MA, MSW, PhD, LSW (Committee Member) Subjects: Gender; Gender Studies; Law; Mass Media; Philosophy; Religion; Welfare

Master of Arts in Psychology, Cleveland State University, 2022, College of Sciences and Health Professions

Background: About 1 in 4 women and 1 in 10 men have experienced intimate partner violence (IPV; CDC, 2019). Although there have been numerous studies on IPV, our knowledge pertains to IPV in heterosexual couples. Although IPV occurs at similar rates in both opposite and same sex couples, studies suggest that individuals are more likely to evaluate IPV in opposite-sex couples as more severe compared to same-sex couples. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine college students' perceptions of IPV in both opposite-sex and same-sex couples. Procedure: The study included 144 participants who read eight vignettes, four of depicting psychological abuse and four depicting physical abuse. Vignettes were randomly presented and counterbalanced by perpetrator's gender (male or female) and couple status (same-sex or opposite-sex). Participants answered questions regarding their perceptions of severity and harm in each scenario, as well as items about attitudes towards homosexuality and their own history of IPV. Result: IPV perceptions of severity and harm did not differ between vignettes with either same-sex or opposite-sex couples, p=0.18. IPV in opposite and same-sex couples involving a male perpetrator did not significantly differ in IPV severity when compared to opposite and same-sex couples involving a female perpetrator, p =0.23. IPV was perceived as more severe with a higher personal history of IPV (p < 0.01) and among those who harbored negative views about sexual minorities (p < 0.01). iv Discussion: Across vignettes, psychological abuse was seen as less severe than physical abuse. When examining the couple × perpetrator interaction, IPV in opposite and samesex couples involving a male perpetrator did not significantly differ in IPV severity when compared to opposite and same-sex couples involving a female perpetrator. The difference between opposite sex couples was not significantly higher than same-sex couple (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Elizabeth Goncy PhD (Committee Chair); Conor McLennan PhD (Committee Member); Eric Allard PhD (Committee Member); Michael Horvath PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Experimental Psychology; Psychology; Social Psychology

Master of Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, 2017, Systems Biology and Bioinformatics

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a prevalent issue that results in overwhelming physical and mental health consequences. It is also known that majority of victims su¿er from blunt force in the head, neck and the face area. Injuries to head and neck are among the causes for traumatic brain injury (TBI). TBI often linked to neurological conditions and permanent behavioral disorders. In this study, we aim to characterize the key associations between IPV and TBI by mining de-identified electronic health records (EHR) data from the Explorys platform. We formulate a novel, data-driven, three-step analytical method to find key health associations by comparing prevalent health conditions among IPV, TBI, and six control cohorts. Our analysis suggests that health effects attributed to substance and alcohol abused livers are highly significant in contributing IPV and TBI interplay. Our results would greatly assist in improving existing screening, diagnostic, and treatment procedures of IPV-induced TBI victims, especially with increasing risk correlated with substance and alcohol abuse.

Committee: Mehmet Koyuturk Ph.D (Advisor); Gunnur Karakurt Ph.D (Committee Member); William Bush Ph.D (Committee Member) Subjects: Bioinformatics; Clinical Psychology; Public Health

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2019, Social Work

Women who endure intimate partner violence (IPV) are likely to experience employment instability or loss of paid work time and unemployment as a result of their abuse. When women who experience IPV, particularly those who are mothers, are impacted by employment instability they may become financially dependent on abusive partners. The current convergent mixed-methods dissertation investigated the longitudinal relationship between intimate partner violence, the unique workplace experiences of survivors, and three forms of survivors' employment instability using a convergent mixed methods design. Using a latent growth curve model, the current study investigated the impact of IPV on mothers' employment trajectories in the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing (FFCW) study over the span of eight years. Three outcomes of employment were selected for the analysis based on their use in previous literature: hours worked per week, annual weeks worked, and employment status. Unconditional growth curve models revealed that all outcomes had significant variation at time one between individuals' employment as well as a significant increase in employment over time. Conditional growth curve models revealed a significant effect of IPV on time two annual weeks worked as well as employment status, indicating that mothers were most likely to experience employment instability when they had a three-year-old child. The conditional model for employment status also revealed that IPV at time two has a six year lagged effect on employment status. Interviews with individual survivors of IPV were also conducted for this study in a large Midwestern city. Participants receiving services at a partner agency were interviewed about their experiences of employment instability, workplace disruptions (including with technology), and their perceptions of policy and practices that employers use to support employees experiencing abuse. Findings revealed that survivors suffered a range of employment (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Kathryn Maguire Jack (Committee Chair); Susan Yoon (Committee Member); Njeri Kagatho (Committee Member); Sharvari Karandikar (Committee Member) Subjects: Social Work; Womens Studies

Master of Arts in English, Cleveland State University, 2017, College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences

In recent years, there has been a trend in young adult adaptations of Wuthering Heights to amend the plot so that Catherine Earnshaw chooses to have a romantic relationship with Heathcliff, when in Bronte's novel she decides against it. In the following study, I trace the factors that contribute to Catherine's rejection of Heathcliff as a romantic partner in the original text. Many critics have argued that her motives are primarily Machiavellian since she chooses a suitor with more wealth and familial connections than Heathcliff. These are indeed factors; however, by engaging with contemporary research on adolescent development, I show that the primary reason she rejects Heathcliff is because he has exhibited a propensity for violence and other abusive behaviors. I also analyze the consequences of reversing her decision in the updated young adult versions, which include the made-for-television film MTV's Wuthering Heights (2003), the Lifetime original film Wuthering High School (2012), and the novel Catherine (2013). The most significant consequence of this change is that in order to make Heathcliff a “chooseable,” twenty-first century hero, the writers of these works have to romanticize his violent tendencies through the perspectives of their female protagonists. When the young women begin to question how secure they are around their partners, they ultimately decide that fidelity to their “soulmate” relationship is more important than safety or autonomy, with the writers using Catherine Earnshaw's famous “I am Heathcliff” speech to support their protagonists' conclusions. I argue, though, that while Catherine does allude to the type of otherworldly love these young women are venerating, Bronte uses her speech to confront the limitations of that love, not to hold it up as an ideal.

Committee: Rachel Carnell (Committee Chair); Gary Dyer (Committee Member); Frederick Karem (Committee Member) Subjects: American Literature; Behavioral Psychology; British and Irish Literature; Gender; Literature; Modern Literature; Motion Pictures; Personal Relationships

Master of Arts (MA), Ohio University, 2016, Sociology (Arts and Sciences)

Previous research has found that relationship violence among college dating partners is a widespread and prevalent problem. Research has also uncovered the constraints that women face when attempting to leave their abusive partners and the harmful myths that surround intimate partner violence. However, these identified constraints are not typical of dating relationships, such as living together or financial dependence. Using a mixed-methods approach, the current study surveyed undergraduate students at Ohio University to assess their attitudes and beliefs regarding intimate partner violence and conducted interviews with ten undergraduate women who self-reported having experienced abuse within an intimate relationship. Survey results revealed that college students are not likely to hold victim-blaming attitudes, though their beliefs in myths did not show an overwhelming consensus. Interviews demonstrated the multidimensional experiences of women in emotionally abusive relationships and the difficulties that young women face in leaving their partners. Taking an intersectional approach, the young women's experiences were compared to other samples in previous research findings. The present study discusses the unique experiences and constraints faced by young women who are victimized within abusive dating relationships, including influences of parents, the role of technology, and the effects of long distance relationships.

Committee: Kelly Faust (Advisor) Subjects: Sociology

Master of Arts, University of Akron, 2014, Communication

Romantic love and intimate partner relationships are themes that dominate popular music. As cultivation theory suggests, music cultivates attitudes and beliefs regarding romantic love and relationships modeled by the narratives evident in music. Women are particularly drawn to popular music and, thus, romantic love narratives. However, what happens when a real-life romantic love narrative is afflicted by abuse? What do such narratives cultivate in regards to the acceptance of intimate partner violence (IPV)? Research on battering and battered women raised awareness about battering. Lenore Walker's The Battered Woman published in 1979, perhaps the most comprehensive research to date regarding IPV, revealed the common dynamics of an abusive relationship and introduced the Cycle of Violence (COV), a repetitive cycle consisting of three phases. As such, a narrative analysis of top 1980's love songs was conducted to first, identify common narratives of romantic love between intimate partners present in the lyrics and then examine these narratives through narratives of abuse, including the COV. It was determined the song narratives depicted particular phases of love: courtship, honeymoon, love's decline and love's end; featured mythical ideals: Cupid's Arrow, love saves; love is forever; and one and only love and the themes self-control, conflict/blame, hanging on and moving on. These narratives examined through a narrative of abuse, which were guided by a cultivation theoretical perspective, symbolically annihilated the notion of sexual abuse, affirmed myths regarding IPV, as well as learned helplessness, isolation, and other battering behaviors within the COV, normalized stalking and blaming, legitimized dark romance and fairytale narratives commonly referenced by women and encouraged male dominance in the relationships. Overall, the narratives of love emboldened battering behaviors and batterers' manipulations of love.

Committee: Therese Lueck Dr. (Advisor); Kathleen Endres Dr. (Committee Member); Tang Tang Dr. (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication; Music; Womens Studies

MARCH, University of Cincinnati, 2010, Design, Architecture, Art and Planning: Architecture

This thesis develops a new building type for Transitional Housing Programs (THPs) giving women and dependents a home and place of recovery from intimate partner abuse (IPA). User's demands fuel the need for the development of this new “type”, with an expressed need for “community” posing the greatest challenge to the current architectural form. That form uses a “scattered-site” approach, simply disconnected apartment units. Development of a new form for THPs must balance the tension with the relationship of “open” shared space to secured spaces of anonymity. The reading(s) of “form” for both users and non-users becomes extremely significant here. The method in designing this new “type” is informed through post-occupancy feedback, design solutions of related building types (single mothers' shelters, women's crisis shelters) and insights generated by feminist architects and theorists. THPs are young programs with only an average history of 8.9 years. They are still seeking both programmatic and architectural form. Historically, homeless shelters, convents, and women's groups have provided sanctuary for women of IPA, but they remain limited by forms designed for other uses. “Inherited” forms conceal the program to provide anonymity, but they limit the functionality of both spaces and aesthetic. THPs, being unique from the crisis shelter, provide a long term residence to women offering a “home” in apartments in the community or a simple room in an emergency shelter (both without corresponding onsite services). The current space of the THP however is more independent and domicile, than institutional and temporary. A new form should seek to maintain those qualities while composing community. Feminist architects and theorist add another voice to the development of the THP and here contribute two strains of thought to this discussion. One thread focuses on new ways of inhabiting (is socially oriented ) and another seeks a gender transgressive design (poetic). Fusing these (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Nnamdi Elleh PhD (Committee Chair); Elizabeth Riorden MARCH (Committee Chair) Subjects: Architecture

MA, University of Cincinnati, 2002, Arts and Sciences : Psychology

In the area of intimate partner violence (IPV) research, there is a growing concern regarding the level of agreement about the occurrence of violence. Several studies to date have shown that women and men do not agree about the occurrence of IPV. Still, very few studies have attempted to measure the underlying mechanisms related to concordance in reports of violence. It has been postulated that memory ability is related to levels of disagreement about violence. The principal goal of this study is to test whether memory ability is related to the magnitude of disagreement between partners about the occurrence of violence, and agreement about the non-occurrence of violence. Further, other potential variables underlying disagreement were explored, such as ethnicity, age, level of education, verbal ability, frequency of drug use, personality, and socially desirable responding. Data were collected from both partners of cohabitating or married couples. The male partners were polysubstance abusers within their first year of abstinence, and the majority of the female partners were substance abusers as well. The cognitive battery included tests of verbal and visual memory, attention, sequencing, and inhibition of overlearned responses. The results indicate that both the men's and women's verbal and visual memory abilities, as well as other cognitive abilities, were significantly related to several indexes of disagreement about violence and psychological aggression. Thus, cognitive ability of the participants should be considered when assessing the accuracy of IPV reports in individuals diagnosed with polysubstance abuse.

Committee: Dr. John Schafer (Advisor) Subjects: Psychology, Clinical

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 2011, Human Ecology

Studies have consistently shown that women between the ages of 18 and 24 suffer the highest rates of intimate partner violence (IPV), with over half experiencing any IPV within their lifetime. Yet to date, no previous research has examined the period prevalence and the types, frequency and severity of violence experienced by women ages 18 to 25 across multiple intimate partners. The 18 to 25 year old age group is of particular significance because relationship patterns established at this time might set the stage for violence victimization across the lifetime. My objective was to describe the prevalence of intimate partner violence in women ages 18 to 25, across two time periods (lifetime, past year), by the type (physical, sexual and non-physical), frequency and severity of violence experienced, and by the number of abusive partners who perpetrated each type of violence. A total of 3568 women ages 18 to 64 were randomly sampled from the enrollment files of Group Health Cooperative, a large integrated health care delivery system providing health services and benefits to approximately 550,000 individuals in Washington State and northern Idaho. For the present paper, I included 287 women between the ages of 18 and 25, who reported having at least one intimate partner since turning age 18. During a telephone survey, participants were asked 5 questions from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) and 10 questions from the Women's Experience with Battering (WEB) to assess exposure to IPV suffered since age 18. For each BRFSS question, if respondents indicated that they had ever suffered the particular type of abuse in their adult lifetime (i.e., since turning age 18), they were then asked if they had experienced it in the last year. After reporting on IPV in those two specific time periods, participants were asked about the total number of partners who perpetrated the violence, the total number of times they experienced the violence across all partners, (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Claire Kamp Dush (Advisor); Amy Bonomi (Committee Member) Subjects: Gender; Health; Public Health; Sociology

Master of Arts (M.A.), University of Dayton, 2012, Psychology, Clinical

This study examined the link between witnessing inter-parental violence in childhood and adult intimate partner violence (IPV) victimization. The researchers of this study explored the possibility that female participant's endorsements of traditional masculine ideologies (TMI), or involvement with men who possess these ideologies, mediated this relationship between witnessing violence in childhood and adult IPV victimization. Female college students (N=99) and female residents in a community drug and alcohol rehabilitation clinic (N=33) rated their experiences of childhood abuse and witnessing violence in childhood, as well as their endorsements regarding TMI and how they believed their ideal partner would endorse TMI statements. The results of this study replicated the finding that witnessing violence in childhood predicts adult IPV victimization; however, TMI endorsements did not mediate this relationship. The results also indicated that witnessing violence in childhood predicted IPV above and beyond other types of abuse experiences in childhood. Taken together, the findings of the current study suggest that further research is needed regarding mediators of the relationship between witnessing violence in childhood and adult IPV.

Committee: Catherine Zois PhD (Advisor); Melissa Layman-Guadalupe PhD (Committee Member); Jackson Goodnight PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Clinical Psychology

Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, 2013, Psychology

Betrayal trauma theory suggests that victims of intimate partner violence (IPV) may restrict awareness of the abuse in order to preserve what they perceive as a vital attachment, as well as to make it more psychologically bearable to live in an abusive context. This study builds upon betrayal trauma theory by examining multiple psychological mechanisms through which individuals restrict awareness of abuse, including dyadic splitting, dissociation, and lack of mindful awareness, in a sample of 378 community women who were currently in a relationship. The patterns of restricted awareness were examined separately, depending upon whether respondents reported severe, moderate, or no childhood sexual abuse (CSA) experiences, to determine whether such relationships were particularly relevant for women with a history of CSA. Overall, CSA victims, particularly victims of severe CSA, tended to rely on pathological processes (i.e., dyadic splitting, depersonalization, amnesia), and nonvictims tended to rely on non-pathological processes (i.e., absorption, lack of mindful awareness). The study is the first to demonstrate the role of fear of abandonment in contributing to a victim's reliance on restricted awareness. Findings highlight that, particularly for CSA victims, fear of abandonment increases reliance on restricted awareness.

Committee: Terri Messman-Moore Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Margaret O'Dougherty Wright Ph.D. (Committee Member); Aaron Luebbe Ph.D. (Committee Member); Sally Lloyd Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Clinical Psychology; Womens Studies

Psy. D., Antioch University, 2013, Antioch Santa Barbara: Clinical Psychology

This phenomenological study sought to understand the experience of seven men who came forward to contribute and discuss their intimate partner relationships for what relational intimacy could reveal about themselves, the meaning of intimate partnership, and their understanding of being in intimate relationships. The theoretical assumptions applied to this study are: (a) Childhood sexual abuse interferes with the ability to achieve deeper experiences of idealized love; (b) Negative effects of adult relational attachment are manifested in anxiety related to sexual intimacy, fear of emotional intimacy, and inability to fulfill dependency needs such as trust, love, and security; and (c) There is decline in the development of a strong therapeutic alliance. This research was guided by two central questions: (a) Research Question 1: What are the lived experiences of intimacy among men who were sexually abused as children? and (b) Research Question 2: How do men who were sexually abused as children describe their experiences with intimacy? Research data were gathered and organized by utilizing a phenomenological approach. An interpretative phenomenological analysis was used to analyze transcripts of participants interviews. Based on their experiences in developing intimate partner relationships, the participants were able to construct meaning about their childhood sexual abuse and intimate partner relationships. Nineteen themes emerged: (a) interpersonal safety woven in the fabric of sexual abuse, (b) need for trust, connection, and openness, (c) ambiguity in the need for emotional reassurance and mistrust of interpersonal relatedness, (d) sexual dysfunction, (e) emotional/intimacy distance, (f) healing while attempting to negotiate intimate relationships, (g) vulnerable to being hurt/betrayed, (h) disintegration of real and perceived intimacy beliefs, (i) understanding, (j) communication, (k) non-abusiveness, (l) exposure to relational bonding and interconnectedness, (m) r (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Salvador Trevino Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Sharleen O’Brien Psy.D. (Committee Member); Alison Hoffman M.A. (Other); Rhiyan Quiton Psy.D. (Other) Subjects: Psychology; Psychotherapy