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Adult Reflections on Childhood Verbal Abuse

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Adult Reflections on Childhood Verbal Abuse Adult Reflections on Childhood Verbal Abuse A Thesis Submitted to the College of Graduate Studies and Research in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Education in the Department of Educational Psychology and Special Education University of Saskatchewan Saskatoon By Debra Helen Roth © Copyright Debra Helen Roth, July 2004. All rights reserved. PERMISSION TO USE In presenting this thesis in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a Postgraduate degree from the University of Saskatchewan, I agree that the Libraries of this University may make it freely available for inspection. I further agree that permission for copying of this thesis in any manner, in whole or in part, for scholarly purposes may be granted by the professor or professors who supervised my thesis work or, in their absence, by the Head of the Department or the Dean of the College in which my thesis work was done. It is understood that any copying or publication or use of this thesis or parts thereof for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. It is also understood that due recognition shall be given to me and to the University of Saskatchewan in any scholarly use which may be made of any material in my thesis. Requests for permission to copy or to make other use of material in this thesis in whole or in part should be addressed to: Head of the Department of Educational Psychology and Special Education 28 Campus Drive University of Saskatchewan Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7N 0X1 i ABSTRACT The purpose of this qualitative study was to describe, with the intention of understanding, the lived experiences and meanings given to these experiences, of adult women who were verbally abused as children. Existing studies in the area of verbal abuse have often examined verbal abuse as part of psychological and/or emotional abuse or in conjunction with physical and sexual abuse. In order to more fully understand the phenomenon of childhood verbal abuse and to add to previous research, this study focused exclusively on verbal abuse using a hermeneutic-phenomenological research approach. Three adult women who experienced childhood verbal abuse, but who are coping successfully despite negative childhood experiences, were interviewed in three separate in-depth conversations; these were augmented with observations, fieldnotes and other documents. After multiple readings of the transcripts, stories of the three women were told. Further analysis consisted of a guided existential reflection based on lived time, lived body, lived space and lived relation (van Manen, 1990), to aid in the process of questioning, reflecting, writing, and coming to a deeper understanding of the ways these women have experienced childhood verbal abuse. The findings from this study add to the understanding of childhood verbal abuse and perhaps will have the added benefit of bringing increased awareness of how detrimental this form of abuse can be to an individual’s self-concept. Results suggest that although verbal abuse experienced in childhood can have adverse consequences, individuals can manage to become stronger and more resilient. Future research focusing on the body/mind connection and age-related factors would be useful. Implications for counselling practice are also described using recommendations from the participants. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS As I come to the end of another chapter in my life I am aware that I owe a debt of gratitude to many people who assisted me in completing this thesis. First of all I want to thank the women who agreed to be interviewed for this study: Ann, Susan, and Jesse. Your courage and willingness to be honest and open about your experiences of childhood verbal abuse brought this issue to life and will hopefully raise the consciousness of society about this widespread problem. Thank you. To my supervisor, Dr. Brian Noonan, thank you for your confidence in me and for offering me your support and expertise. Thank you to Dr. Jennifer Nicol, my thesis supervisor in spirit, who enabled me to come to an understanding of hermeneutic- phenomenology. Your encouraging comments and thorough editing of my chapters was much appreciated. You were always willing to meet with me and listen patiently to my concerns. Thank you also to Dr. Gina Harrison, another committee member who made timely suggestions and helped me to consider all relevant perspectives. I am grateful to my external examiner, Dr. Brian Chartier; your probing questions and insightful comments helped me to re-word and clarify certain points in my thesis. Thank you to my family members who always supported me and provided listening ears when I needed to talk. Your prayers and advice got me through many crises. To all of my colleagues and friends who have been willing to share their time, thoughts and suggestions, I thank you, and hope that we can continue to build each other up no matter what paths we pursue. iii Leo, you have always been there for me, supporting, encouraging and loving me despite many setbacks and trials. Thank you for your many hours of technical expertise and for weathering the storm. Lastly, but first in my life, I wish to acknowledge my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who has breathed his Spirit into these pages and has given me the wisdom and strength required to finish this thesis. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS PERMISSION TO USE.................................................................................................i ABSTRACT....................................................................................................................ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..........................................................................................iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ..............................................................................................v LIST OF APPENDICES ...............................................................................................x Chapter 1: Introduction ................................................................................................1 Background ...............................................................................................................1 Need for the Study.....................................................................................................5 Delimitations .............................................................................................................6 Definition of Terms...................................................................................................7 Purpose of the Study .................................................................................................8 Research Questions...................................................................................................8 Summary...............................................................................................................8 Chapter 2: Literature Review.......................................................................................10 Difficulty with Definition of Emotional and/or Psychological Abuse ....................12 Role of Social Learning Theory in Verbal Abuse....................................................16 Perpetuation of Verbal Abuse................................................................................20 Summary.................................................................................................................31 Emotional and/or Psychological Abuse and Stages of Human Development........31 Emotional and/or Psychological Abuse and Effects on Development.................34 Effects of Verbal and/or Emotional Abuse on Psychological Development .......38 Summary.................................................................................................................49 v Protective Factors .....................................................................................................49 Factors for Positive Change in Abuse Cycle............................................................55 Summary.................................................................................................................58 Chapter 3: Research Methodology...............................................................................60 Introduction.....................................................................................................................60 Qualitative Inquiry....................................................................................................61 Phenomenological Methods of Research..............................................................61 Participant Selection.................................................................................................64 Data Generation........................................................................................................65 Interviews ...............................................................................................................65 Observations...........................................................................................................70 Field Notes..............................................................................................................71 Data Analysis.............................................................................................................72 Etymological Reflection.........................................................................................73 Guided Existential Reflection................................................................................73
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