Social Construction of Illicit Teacher-Student Relationships
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SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF ILLICIT TEACHER-STUDENT RELATIONSHIPS: A MEDIA ANALYSIS A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE TEXAS WOMAN’S UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY AND SOCIAL WORK COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES BY LINDA A. LANCASTER, M.A. DENTON, TEXAS AUGUST 2016 DEDICATION To my family for always being there for me and for being my best cheerleaders; to my parents for their lifelong support and encouragement; and to all of my family members who were public school teachers – true heroes. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my sincere appreciation to the wonderful professors and staff in the Sociology and Social Work Department at TWU. I have enjoyed my time in working as a graduate student and have learned so many things while on this tremendous journey. Thank you as well to the Graduate School for their expertise and excellent advice, especially Karen Bartel, Michan Chowritmootoo, and Dr. Susan Harper. Specifically, I would like to thank my chair, Dr. James L. Williams, for his words of wisdom, for his patience, and for his guidance throughout the dissertation process. Thank you for your understanding of my time commitments to this research, to my family, and to my full-time high school teaching position. Completion would not have been possible without your encouragement and support to guide this project across the finish line. A sincere thank you to Dr. Mahmoud Sadri for your expectations of excellence in classical and contemporary sociological theory. I express my appreciation to Dr. Jessica Gullion for your knowledge and influence in steering me towards a qualitative project as a graduate student in your class. I would like to thank Dr. Philip Yang for your efforts in helping me transfer to the TWU Sociology Department. Dr. Linda Marshall, you were one of my first professors at TWU and I have never forgotten your kindness and your ease in leading class discussions. Your knowledge, fairness, and classroom style have influenced me in my teaching career. Thank you to Terry Abbott of Drive West Communications. Your willingness to share your data is greatly appreciated. Your information was valuable to my research. I owe a great debt to my wonderful colleagues at Bridges Learning Center (Grapevine-Colleyville ISD) for their support as well. Dr. Lynda Burr, you are the iv best principal ever and I cannot imagine working for anyone else. You have been with me each step of this journey and a graduate degree would not have been possible without your help. To Kathy Krohn, your knowledge of computer technology has been invaluable and I appreciate the answers to my incessant questions. Dr. Marina Flores, I am so fortunate to follow your example as you were one step ahead of me in the doctoral process. Thank you for your encouragement. To my fellow teachers and staff, a big thank you for pushing me to earn my degree. To my statistics tutor, Jan Yockey, thank you for gently guiding me through statistics, formulas, and mathematical operations. You are a life-saver. A special thank you goes to Dr. Dian Jordan, a great mentor. You have been an encouraging classmate and friend. Finally, I would like to thank my family. You have been so understanding of my time commitments and my hours away from home. Thank you for being so supportive as I spent countless hours in front of a computer screen. v ABSTRACT LINDA A. LANCASTER SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF ILLICIT TEACHER-STUDENT RELATIONSHIPS: A MEDIA ANALYSIS AUGUST 2016 Teacher sexual misconduct has received widespread media attention. The focus of this study is to examine and analyze online news articles about cases involving teacher- student participants. The goal is to investigate how sexual misconduct by teachers is portrayed by media. Most research has been journalistic in nature. Therefore, journalists are filters for the narratives that surround each case. While sexual abuse of students is a serious issue, it has failed to garner a consolidated effort to provide preventative methods. Quantitative methods are used in analysis of the demographic characteristics, while qualitative methods are used to examine terminology in news articles. By combining content analysis with critical discourse analysis, I am able to examine data from 308 news articles involving 104 Texas teachers from 2014. Findings show that media coverage differs based on gender, race, and age of participants. Terminology in each article frames the participants in a precise manner and highlights particular details. In addition, certain types of cases receive national and international coverage, while others are ignored. Media coverage of teacher misconduct cases is a complex issue involving factors such as language, headline choices, bias, and stereotypes. Preventative measures will require this issue to be seen as a harmful social problem. Since media has the power to influence public opinion, understanding media’s role is a key component. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page DEDICATION ....................................................................................................... iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...................................................................................... iv ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................... vi LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................. x Chapter I. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................. 1 Background. .......................................................................................................... 1 Significance of the Study .................................................................................... 10 II. LITERATURE REVIEW .................................................................................. 14 Limited Research ............................................................................................... 14 Boundary Violations .......................................................................................... 16 Media Exploitation ............................................................................................ 19 Gender and Gender Stereotypes ......................................................................... 22 Impact of Educator Abuse ................................................................................. 25 Theoretical Framework. .................................................................................... 27 Social Construction of Reality ....................................................................... 27 Teacher Sexual Abuse as a Social Problem ................................................... 30 Research Questions ............................................................................................ 32 III. METHODOLOGY .......................................................................................... 34 Data ................................................................................................................. 34 Sample ............................................................................................................. 34 Instrument........................................................................................................ 36 Data Collection ................................................................................................ 37 Data Analysis................................................................................................... 37 Content Analysis ........................................................................................ 37 Discourse Analysis ..................................................................................... 39 Mixed Methodology .................................................................................. 41 vii Coding ............................................................................................................. 45 IV. FINDINGS ...................................................................................................... 47 Demographic Characteristics ............................................................................ 47 Teacher Gender ............................................................................................ 47 Teacher Race. ............................................................................................... 48 Teacher Race by Gender. ............................................................................. 48 Teacher Age by Gender................................................................................ 49 Teacher Employment Status ......................................................................... 49 Teacher Level of School Assignment. ........................................................... 50 School Assignment by Teacher Gender ......................................................... 51 Extracurricular Involvement. ......................................................................... 52 Victim Characteristics .................................................................................. 53 Victim Gender .............................................................................................. 54 Victim School Level by Gender ................................................................... 54 Teacher-Victim by Gender ...........................................................................