| dc.description.abstract | The way that women of color make sense of adverse experiences such as intimate partner violence (IPV) victimization affects the way that they respond to the situation. Cultural contexts provide a frame for making sense of phenomena such as IPV. Furthermore, people’s knowledge of the world around them and their own experiences is developed through interactions with others. An understanding of how women of color acknowledge IPV victimization can be used to improve interventions for IPV survivors, to inform how counselors work with clients, and to provide guidance to friends and family offering support to loved ones in violent relationships. Therefore, the goal of this 3-study dissertation was to describe U.S. cultural and social constructions of IPV victimization and to examine acknowledgement of IPV victimization among women of color living in these contexts. Study 1 examined current cultural constructions of IPV through conducting a frame analysis of U.S. news media portraying IPV. Study 2 explored social constructions of IPV through a discourse analysis of social media discussions. Study 3 explored how women of color interpreted relationship experiences as IPV or not, and to understand the social and cultural influences on this process. Based on the findings of these three studies, three culminating points emerge: acknowledgement is a social process, questioning is a part of the acknowledgement process, opportunities exist to influence cultural and social constructions of IPV, and opportunities exist to improve awareness of healthy relationships and IPV. Women of color make sense of IPV through processing their experiences with other people. They acknowledge their relationship as violent when speaking with people who label it as such or not. This process takes time, and repeated discussion and consideration. Women’s experiences of violence, neglect, and perpetration also inform this process, making it harder to acknowledge IPV victimization. Discussions about IPV are affected by cultural ideas such as individuals are responsible for IPV and the acceptance of blaming victims. Cultural ideas change in response to anti-violence movements, which suggests that acknowledgement can be increased with proper framing of anti-violence messages. | |
