Adolescent Female Embodiment As a Transformational Experience in the Lives of Women: an Empirical Existential- Phenomenological Investigation Allyson Havill

Duquesne University Duquesne Scholarship Collection Electronic Theses and Dissertations Summer 2006 Adolescent Female Embodiment As A Transformational Experience In The Lives of Women: An Empirical Existential- Phenomenological Investigation Allyson Havill Follow this and additional works at: https://dsc.duq.edu/etd Recommended Citation Havill, A. (2006). Adolescent Female Embodiment As A Transformational Experience In The Lives of Women: An Empirical Existential-Phenomenological Investigation (Doctoral dissertation, Duquesne University). Retrieved from https://dsc.duq.edu/etd/ 639 This Immediate Access is brought to you for free and open access by Duquesne Scholarship Collection. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Duquesne Scholarship Collection. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Adolescent Female Embodiment as Transformational Experience in the Lives of Women: An Empirical Existential-Phenomenological Investigation A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Psychology Department McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts Duquesne University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Allyson Havill March 31, 2006 Paul Richer, Ph.D. Anthony Barton, Ph.D. Eva Simms, Ph.D. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page TABLE OF CONTENTS ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iv ABSTRACT v INTRODUCTION 1 REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE 9 Phenomenological Theories of the Body 9 The Body and Adolescent Development 19 Contemporary Theories of the Body 37 Summary of Literature Review 42 METHOD 48 The Research Question 48 Participants 49 Method of Data Collection 50 Method of Data Analysis 54 RESULTS 57 Description of the Participants 57 Situated Narrative 1 Tina 58 Situated Narrative 2 Lisa 71 Situated Narrative 3 Chris 86 Situated Narrative 4 Sue 92 Situated Narrative 5 Kelly 101 Situated Narrative 6 Jill 108 General Narrative 117 DISCUSSION 151 Dialogue With the Literature 151 Clinical Implications 199 Limitations and Directions for Future Research 203 iii Conclusion 205 REFERENCES 208 APPENDIX A 211 Edited Synthesis 1 212 Edited Synthesis 2 249 Edited Synthesis 3 288 Edited Synthesis 4 303 Edited Synthesis 5 326 Edited Synthesis 6 348 APPENDIX B 366 Consent to Participate in a Research Study 367 iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to thank the women who told me their stories, and who allowed me to listen and share in their personal experiences. I greatly appreciate their willingness to give their time, and lend their voices to this research. I would like to thank my director, Paul Richer, Ph.D. for his expertise and guidance throughout this research project. His suggestions and feedback were extremely valuable, and I’m grateful for his willingness to direct my dissertation. I would like to thank my readers, Anthony Barton, Ph.D. and Eva Simms, Ph.D. for their willingness to be involved as well, and for their excellent suggestions and thoughtful comments about my study. Most of all, I would like to thank my family, my parents Earl and Patricia, my sister Kelly and my brother-in-law Joe, and Kristin and Andrew. Thank you for all of the times you’ve helped me, supported me, and lived through this with me for all of these years. I really could not have done it without you. I would also like to thank the rest of my family, who asked faithfully over many phone calls and family gatherings, “Is it finished yet?” I’d like to thank Tina, Chris, and Lisa, who were there from the beginning. Thanks for understanding all that you have, for listening all the times that you did, and for being my friends for as long as you have. I’d also like to thank my friends on the third floor at WPIC, who also listened, understood, and supported me throughout this academic endeavor. I would like to thank Craig and Frank, two of the best child psychiatrists I know, for always saying “Yes,” whenever I asked if this was a good day to stay home and write, and who encouraged me to “Pass it on.” Thank you to Norma in the Psychology Department, for being such a steady voice and a calming presence for me and for so many other doctoral students over the years. Thank you to Cindy at WPIC for her technical assistance with this project, and to Mandy for having the right book at the right time. Finally, thank you to the man at the bookstore who saved my discussion section. v ABSTRACT Adolescence can be a time of psychological vulnerability in the life cycle of a woman as she experiences multiple developmental changes. As articulated in the literature related to adolescent female development, a changing body may be at the heart of what can make this a time of profound transition for the adolescent girl as she attempts to negotiate alterations in her identity and self-concept, and consequently her social roles. The purpose of this investigation of adolescent female embodiment was to understand the experience of adolescent girls as it relates to their changing bodies, and to explore the question of whether these experiences put them at risk for limitations and a loss of potential in their lives as adult women. Specifically, this investigation examined the vulnerability of the adolescent girl, as identified by Pipher, to a loss of wholeness, self- confidence, and self-direction that may continue into adulthood. The means for illuminating these existential possibilities involved asking adult women to reflect upon and describe their experiences of adolescent bodily change in terms of how these changes had affected their view of themselves, their relationships with others, and their everyday lives, as well as the ways in which these experiences had affected their lives since adolescence. The findings of this study of adolescent female embodiment indicate a profound unity between the body and the self, and supports previous research suggesting a strong unity between body image and self-concept in this population. Strong connections between alterations in the body/self and changes in familial and social relationships were also articulated by the participants of this study. Relationships cited as being most significantly affected, were those with their mothers, whom they vi felt had not prepared them for what was to come, and their relationships with male and female peers which were altered in relation to this new sense of confusion or lack of self-assuredness. The participants of the study also universally described their awareness of their bodies becoming objects in the world, and the limitations that this increased self-consciousness placed upon them and their freedoms. This investigation also identified individual struggles that the participants continue to engage in as adult women, struggles that involve developing a sense of autonomy and authenticity, and struggles to reclaim the self. The results of this investigation are relevant for clinical assessment and intervention with adolescent girls and women as they make explicit some of the multiple losses and transitions that make them potentially vulnerable to anxiety and depression, and which must be successfully negotiated by this population. 1 INTRODUCTION In her 1994 book, Reviving Ophelia, Mary Pipher makes the observation that adolescent girls “crash and burn in a social and developmental Bermuda Triangle” (p.19). Pipher points out that a changing body is one of the contributing factors which make young girls especially vulnerable to what she calls a disowning of the adolescent girl’s true self. She makes the claim that this process can result in a loss of wholeness, self- confidence, and self-direction that can last well into adulthood. This investigation will seek to understand what an adolescent girl experiences, and how her world changes as her body undergoes the physical changes associated with adolescence. It will also explore whether these experiences are so profound, as Pipher suggests, that she experiences limitations and loss of potential in her adult life. The crucial role that the body plays in the changing world of the adolescent girl is clearly articulated in the literature. Several authors implicate the body as being at the core of what makes adolescence such a time of vulnerability in the life cycle of a woman. Brumberg (1997) notes that “the body is at the heart of the crisis of confidence that Pipher and others describe” (p.xxiv). She reports that at age thirteen, fifty-three percent of girls express unhappiness with their bodies, and by age seventeen the level of dissatisfaction increases to seventy-eight percent. She points out that discussion of the body and how to improve it are a main focus of attention in publications and media targeting adolescent girls. As the adolescent girl faces the question – Who am I? Who do I want to be? – the answer revolves increasingly around the body. The increase in 2 anorexia and bulimia over the last thirty years indicates that for some girls the body becomes an obsession. But even among those who never develop eating disorders, the body becomes central to the way in which girls define themselves. Brumberg points out that although young women have greater freedom and increased options, because of unique biological and cultural forces, they also experience greater pressure and risks than they did a century ago. Brumberg believes that the body is “central to the experience of female adolescence” (p.xxv), that adolescent girls make the body their “central project” (p.xxv). Basow and Rubin (1999) describe adolescence as a critical period, a crossroads in which girls are attempting to stay in touch with themselves and their own thoughts and feelings, and at the same time, meet the female role expectations imposed on them by others. They “are confronted with heightened expectations to conform to a more restricted female role” (p.31). Basow and Rubin point out that this adult female role is a role in which there is a focus on being attractive to men and serving the needs of others.

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