Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

12-1998

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Psychology

Major Professor

Howard R. Pollio

Committee Members

Jack M. Barlow, Leonard Handler, Wesley G. Morgan, Jack E. Reese

Abstract

Fifteen men were interviewed about their experiences of being violent in domestic relationships. Interviews were analyzed using an interpretive method designed to uncover themes in the structure of violent experiences. Results revealed participants' pervasive awareness of themselves and their partners in relationship, an awareness entitled Self-Other, that formed the ground against which descriptions of being violent emerged, in two sets of themes. The first set of themes, labeled Relational Themes, described comparisons the men made of themselves with their partners that encompassed experiences of being Big or Little, Good or Bad, and Winning or Losing. The experiences described by Relational Themes formed the context for violent activity that was described in the second set of themes. Themes of Violence. Themes of Violence included descriptions of feeling In Control or Out of Control, a sensation of Pressure, and Exploding. There were six sub themes associated with Themes of Violence that further described details of the men's violent experience. The sub-themes represented the men's experiences of feeling like or unlike themselves—labeled "me" or "not me" — of feeling "aware" or "not aware," and of having a sense of "choice" or "no choice" about their behavior. The sub-themes also represented experiences of physical change—labeled "body changes"—that the violence "happens fast,” and that it is "automatic," by which participants seemed to mean both that it happened outside of their volition and that, over time, it became easier to be violent. These results are discussed in terms of theories of domestic violence and also in terms of the relevant empirical literature. It is concluded that, for the men in this study, domestic violence was a failed attempt to assert a preferred identity—Big, Good, and Winning—in relation to a partner who could be identified as the devalued opposite—Little, Bad, and Losing. Because of their violent behavior, however, the men ultimately offered judgments of themselves in devalued terms: they felt small; they felt bad; they felt like losers, indications that the relational context for violence had been recreated. The implications of these findings for the victim are discussed. including the fact that, in the aftermath of their violent behavior, when the men appear to be contrite, they may also feel powerless—small, bad, and losing—experience to which they have previously responded with violence. Suggestions are made to expand treatment interventions to focus on Relational Themes, the men's ongoing experiences of being Big or Little, Good or Bad, and Winning or Losing in relation to their partners, experience from which they described their violence as emerging and from which it may be reproduced.

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