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antioch1310672169.pdf (966.48 KB)
ETD Abstract Container
Abstract Header
Suicide Survivorship Among Lesbians
Author Info
Davis, Amy S.
Permalink:
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=antioch1310672169
Abstract Details
Year and Degree
2010, Psy. D., Antioch University, Antioch Seattle: Clinical Psychology.
Abstract
It is commonly understood that approximately 10 % of the U.S. population is gay, lesbian, or bisexual. It has been well-documented that gay people face a heightened risk of suicide that is different and more severe than heterosexuals. Although it is known that both suicide attempts and completions are disproportionately higher among gay adolescents than heterosexual ones, there is a paucity of research on the phenomenon of suicide survivorship. Because lesbian adolescents in particular have higher rates of depression, drug or alcohol abuse, and suicidality than heterosexuals, there is a demonstrated need for studies which explore the experiences of lesbian women specifically. This dissertation sought to understand the meaning behind the experience of surviving one’s own suicide attempt, both at the time of the attempt, and at least ten years post. Six women who self-identified as lesbians who attempted suicide during adolescence were interviewed, and asked a question designed to evoke an exploration of the meaning of their experience: What is the lived experience of having survived this attempt? As a lesbian? As a woman? Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was used to uncover distilled meaning and shared themes among participants. Although three main super-ordinate themes, Catalysts, Return Journey, and Meaning of Survival, were determined, within this last were the following results: most of the participants were grateful for their present lives and survival, although none of them had been so initially; they hoped their stories would be helpful to others, and had broken their silence in order to help others; and for many their on-going survival and choice to live was tied to claiming a publicly lesbian identity. Finally, among those who reported both being grateful for their lives and that their attempts had been integrated into the larger mosaic of their lived experiences, the role of motherhood was listed as a salient factor in these, and in their on-going decisions to continue living. The electronic version of this dissertation is at OhioLink ETD Center, www.ohiolink.edu/etd.
Committee
Mary Wieneke, Ph.D. (Committee Chair)
Ned Farley, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
William Roedel, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Pages
202 p.
Subject Headings
Clinical Psychology
;
Womens Studies
Keywords
suicide
;
survivorship
;
lesbians
;
meaning of attempt
Recommended Citations
Refworks
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Citations
Davis, A. S. (2010).
Suicide Survivorship Among Lesbians
[Doctoral dissertation, Antioch University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=antioch1310672169
APA Style (7th edition)
Davis, Amy.
Suicide Survivorship Among Lesbians.
2010. Antioch University, Doctoral dissertation.
OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center
, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=antioch1310672169.
MLA Style (8th edition)
Davis, Amy. "Suicide Survivorship Among Lesbians." Doctoral dissertation, Antioch University, 2010. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=antioch1310672169
Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)
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Document number:
antioch1310672169
Download Count:
861
Copyright Info
© 2010, some rights reserved.
Suicide Survivorship Among Lesbians by Amy S. Davis is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at etd.ohiolink.edu.
This open access ETD is published by Antioch University and OhioLINK.