1 Living With Contradictions of Love and Violence: A Grounded Theory Study of Women's ...

462 Pages·2015·4.1 MB·English

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Living With Contradictions of Love and Violence:
A Grounded Theory Study of Women’s Understanding of Their
Childhood Experiences of Domestic Violence

Clarissa Sammut Scerri B.A., B. A. (Hons), M. A. (Counselling Psychology)

Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the award of
Doctor of Philosophy

Department of Psychology
Faculty of Arts and Human Sciences
University of Surrey

March 2015
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ABSTRACT
Compared to the quantitative studies that have looked at the impact of domestic
violence on children, few quantitative studies have looked at the continuing impact of
domestic violence exposure on adult children and still fewer qualitative studies have
explored this topic from the perspective of adult women reflecting on their exposure to
domestic violence over time. None to date have taken a systemic, relational perspective
to illuminate the complex family dynamics in a domestic violence context.
To address this gap, a constructivist grounded theory (Charmaz, 2006) design,
using a systemic lens, was used to illuminate the understanding of adult women’s
experiences of childhood domestic violence in the family that they grew up in. In depth
interviews were undertaken with a sample of 15 women who were recruited through
health and social care professional colleagues. Data collection and data analysis happened
concurrently and theoretical sampling, constant comparative method, memo writing
guided the research process.
The category “Living with contradictions, double binds and dilemmas” was
presented as the core category that sought to throw light on the continual contradictions
of love and abuse that the women had to struggle with, in making sense of their
experiences. The three key categories that made up the core category were: a)“Being
triangulated in the parental conflict and parentification, as a related and relational
process”; b) “The traumatogenic effect of the violence on the child and adult
development” and c) “Turning points/ Developmental processes that foster change and
resilience, including reconciliation, reconnection and redemption”. The research
participants’ childhood experiences and cultural contexts such as gendered beliefs, beliefs
about religion, the limited professional responses and issues of secrecy and shame were
presented as the contexts to understand their adult experiences, and these in turn gave
meaning to their childhood experiences in an iterative process.
The results highlighted a number of implications for practice, research,
supervision, policy and service development, such as the need for practitioners to
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understand and manage intense contradictions and hold complex dilemmas when working
with violence. One way that this can be done is by embracing an integrative theoretical
framework including using systemic psychotherapy both as a meta-theory and as an
intervention, with adult survivors and child witnesses of interpersonal violence.
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STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY
This thesis and the work to which it refers are the results of my own efforts. Any ideas,
data, images or text resulting from the work of others (whether published or unpublished)
are fully identified as such within the work and attributed to their originator in the text,
bibliography or in footnotes. This thesis has not been submitted in whole or in part for
any other academic degree or professional qualification. I agree that the University has
the right to submit my work to the plagiarism detection service TurnitinUK for originality
checks. Whether or not drafts have been so assessed, the University reserves the right to
require an electronic version of the final document (as submitted) for assessment as
above.
Clarissa Sammut Scerri

© Clarissa Sammut Scerri 2015
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
“If you dream of moving mountains tomorrow, you must start by lifting small stones
today” – taken from http://annettamiller.weebly.com/proverbs-on-life.html
Special thanks to both my supervisors - Prof Arlene Vetere, principal supervisor and Prof
Angela Abela, my local supervisor for their scholarly supervision, their humanity, and
stimulating conversations - I could not have asked for better supervisors!
I need to heartily thank my participants - you are courageous women, and a clear
testament to the resilience of the human spirit. The need to share your stories with others
was one of the reasons that kept me going;
I also want to thank Dr Sam Hopkins from the Surrey research development group for her
support and dedication and to Janice Sargent for her immense help with APA formatting.
Thank you Mum for the countless meals, for the grocery shopping and the child minding.
I would not have done it without your help! Thank you Dad for your quiet support and
for being so proud of me!
Thomas – here is the book – finally mummy wrote it!
Thanks to my furry animals for keeping me company in the early hours of the morning.
To my “Reggio gals” whose support, humour and virtual company kept me going during
those moments of despair when I thought that this project would never end;
To Charles, husband, best friend, ally, and peer reviewer -
In the words of John Hills (2002), “This has truly been a labour of love… and like all
love it has had its moments of doubt, but this has never succumbed to the burden of the
labour” (p. xv).
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ABSTRACT 2
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 5
CHAPTER 1.0 ORIENTATION TO THE THESIS 23
1.1 The Study’s Research Questions 25
1.1.1. The initial research question of this study. 25
1.1.2 The main research question of the grounded theory research study 25
1.2 The Structure of the Chapters 26
CHAPTER 2.0 INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY 28
2.1 Orientation to the Chapter 28
2.2 Definition of Terms 28
2.2.1 Definition of domestic violence 30
2.2.2 Terminology regarding children “witnessing” domestic violence
and abuse of children 31
2.3 Setting the Contextual Framework: The Legal Context, Service Provision
and Prevalence Rates 32
2.3.1 The legal context 32
2.3.1.1 European convention 34
2.3.2 Domestic violence services provision 35
2.3.2.1 The first domestic violence shelter 35
2.3.2.2 The first Domestic violence Unit (DVU) 35
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2.3.3 The development of the psychosocial professions 36
2.3.3.1 Social work 36
2.3.3.2 Psychology and psychotherapy 37
2.4 The Extent of the Problem of Domestic Violence in Malta and Prevalence
Rates of Children Witnessing Violence 39
2.5 Conclusion 40
CHAPTER 3.0 LITERATURE REVIEW 41
3.1 Orientation to the Chapter 41
3.2 Search strategy 41
3.3 Introduction to the themes discussed in the literature review below 43
3.3.1 The impact of domestic violence exposure on children 43
3.3.2 Gender differences in the impact of exposure 45
3.3.3 The co-occurrence of domestic violence and other forms of child
abuse 46
3.3.4 The continuing impact of domestic violence exposure on adult
children 48
3.3.5 Intergenerational transmission of violence 49
3.3.6 Parenting in the context of domestic violence 54
3.3.6.1 Mothering in the context of domestic violence 54
3.3.6.2 Fathering in the context of domestic violence 56
3.3.7 Resilient children 57
3.3.8 Methodological limitations of the quantitative literature on child
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and adult outcomes of witnessing domestic violence 59
3.3.9 A review of the qualitative studies on the experiences of children
and adults witnessing domestic violence 60
3.4 Theoretical Frameworks 62
3.4.1 Theoretical frameworks from the marital conflict literature 63
3.4.1.1 Social learning theory 63
3.4.1.2 Cognitive contextual framework 63
3.4.1.3 Emotional security theory (EST) 65
3.4.2 Family systems theory 67
3.4.2.1 Central ideas 67
3.4.3 Attachment theory: A theory of social and emotional development
in a relational context and of safety and protection in family relationships 69
3.4.3.1 Dynamic-maturational model of attachment (DMM) 71
3.4.4 Trauma theory 74
3.4.4.1 Posttraumatic stress disorder 74
3.4.4.2 Complex trauma 75
3.4.4.3 Trauma and memory work 75
3.4.5 A resilience framework, posttraumatic growth and adversity-
activated development 77
3.4.5.1 Relational resilience 78
3.4.5.2 Family resilience 79
3.3 Conclusion 80
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CHAPTER 4.0 METHODOLOGY 82
4.1 Orientation to the Chapter 82
4.2 Rationale for the Use of a Qualitative Paradigm in the Research Study 82
4.3 Generalizability in Qualitative Research 83
4.4 Why I chose Grounded Theory Methodology as a Strategy of Inquiry 83
4.4.1 Definition of constructivist grounded theory 85
4.5 Epistemological and Ontological Underpinnings of This Study 87
4.6 Conclusion 89
CHAPTER 5.0 METHOD 90
5.1 Orientation to the Chapter 90
5.2 The Design 90
5.3 Research Procedure 93
5.3.1 The participants 93
5.3.2 Recruitment of participants 104
5.3.3 The interview as a data collection tool: Its strengths and limitations 105
5.3.4 The interview guide: The semi-structured interview 107
5.3.5 Pre-Piloting the Interview Guide 108
5.4 A Focus on the Data Collection Process 110
5.4.1 Transcription 110
5.4.2 Translating the transcripts: First steps in the analysis process 111
5.5 Continuing With the Grounded Theory Analysis Process 113
5.5.1 Line-by-line coding 113
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5.5.2 First level focused coding 114
5.5.3 Theoretical sampling 115
5.5.4. The development of the research question 116
5.5.5 Continuation of the grounded theory data analysis: Axial coding 117
5.5.6 Theoretical coding 118
5.5.7 The core category 119
5.6 Critique of Grounded Theory as a Methodology 120
5.7 Ethical Issues 121
5.8 Credibility of the study 125
5.8.1 Self-reflexivity 125
5.8.2 Credibility checks: Discussion groups with health and social care
professionals in the field 128
5.8.3 Credibility checks: Member checks 129
5.9 Conclusion 129
CHAPTER 6.0 RESULTS 130
6.1 Orientation to the Chapter 130
6.2 Part One 135
6.2.1 Childhood experiences in the context of family violence 135
6.2.1.1 Father-daughter relationship: Growing up in the shadow of a
violent father and dealing with dynamics of fear, love and retaliation 135
6.2.1.1.1 Witnessing the horrible physical and psychological
abuse by their father on their mother 135