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Interactional Patterns of Expressed Hopes Between Victims and Offenders, Following Offender Detainment for Domestic Violence

Carotta, Christin L
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1397764880

Abstract Details

2014, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Human Ecology: Human Development and Family Science.
The purpose of this study is to examine how interpersonal processes, involving the exchange of hopes between victims and offenders, unfold following offender detainment for felony level violence. This study used a grounded theory, qualitative approach to address three specific research aims: 1) to document the interactional patterns through which hopes are exchanged between victims and offenders; 2) to identify the role these interactional patterns play in victims' and offenders' willingness to remain in contact; and 3) to examine how the hopes exchanged between partners evolve over the duration of the offender's detainment. Audio-recorded telephone conversations of 17 couples were analyzed (40 -140 minutes of conversational data for each couple), using a lexical definition of hope as the starting point. The hopes between victims and offenders were documented and sequenced with the overarching goal of identifying the interactional patterns of expressed hopes between victims and offenders. Several consistent interactional patterns emerged, including partners' need for reassurance, resistance to responsibility or blame, appeals for sympathy or support, and navigation of the threat of relationship dissolution. Particularly noteworthy was offenders' dynamic responses to the victim's desire to end the relationship which included: 1) challenging the victim; 2) pursuing the relationship or hedging resistance, 3) appealing for sympathy and help, or 4) eventually mirroring or accepting the victim's desire to end the relationship. These interactional patterns served to cultivate conflict, maintain communication, and eventually recover the violent relationship following threats of dissolution, Once relationship recovery occurred, hope of ending the relationship was unlikely to be expressed again for the remainder of the couple's conversations. Relational conflict concerning the urgent need for partner change, truth, and personal exoneration from blame, however, was never fully resolved and persisted for the duration of the couple's communication. Identification of the interpersonal processes, involving the exchange of hopes between victims and offenders, that unfolded following the offender's detainment for felony level violence, provides critical insight into the emotional experiences and the intimacy dynamics of violent partnerships.
Amy Bonomi, Ph.D. (Advisor)
Xin Feng, Ph.D. (Advisor)
Suzanne Bartle-Haring, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
85 p.
Individual and Family Studies
domestic violence, family violence, hope, couple and family processes

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Carotta, C. L. (2014). Interactional Patterns of Expressed Hopes Between Victims and Offenders, Following Offender Detainment for Domestic Violence [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1397764880

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Carotta, Christin. Interactional Patterns of Expressed Hopes Between Victims and Offenders, Following Offender Detainment for Domestic Violence. 2014. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1397764880.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Carotta, Christin. "Interactional Patterns of Expressed Hopes Between Victims and Offenders, Following Offender Detainment for Domestic Violence." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2014. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1397764880

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1397764880
387
© 2014, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.