Date of Defense

4-30-2020

Date of Graduation

4-2020

Department

Sociology

First Advisor

Angela Moe

Second Advisor

Zoann Snyder

Abstract

This study derived from the stories of eight women from varying backgrounds who have experienced intimate partner abuse. My analysis focuses on identifying themes across the transcripts of their qualitative open-ended interviews. I was specifically interested in how intimate partner abuse impacted the women’s behavior in terms of surviving the relationships and navigating escape. Given that the interviews included life histories, I was able to also examine themes related to childhood victimization as well. Patterns that arose from their experiences include exposure to violence in the home as children, escalation of abuse in their adult intimate relationships, various struggles to leave their abusive partners, and how children were used to motivate the women to leave. These behaviors were analyzed from a behavioral perspective, and in doing so I tried to explain the reasons that these thematic experiences are common in many survivors of intimate violence.

Access Setting

Honors Thesis-Open Access

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Criminology Commons

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