- Title
- “A cellar made of cold grey cement”: making sense of the cumulative impact, both positive and negative, of domestic violence in childhood and adult life
- Creator
- Rowland, Elise
- Relation
- University of Newcastle Research Higher Degree Thesis
- Resource Type
- thesis
- Date
- 2022
- Description
- Masters Coursework - Master of Clinical Psychology (MClinPsych)
- Description
- Many millions of people worldwide are exposed to domestic violence each year. The negative impacts of domestic violence in childhood, and adult life, and the intergenerational nature of violence are widely cited in the literature. However, there is limited research on the subjective voices of those who have experience domestic violence repeatedly in both childhood and adult life. This phenomenological research explored the positive and negative subjective interpretation of the lived experience of domestic violence over the life cycle. Interpretative phenomenological analysis guided data collection and analysis. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with a purposive sample of four female participants aged between 63 and 73. Three overarching superordinate themes emerged: Terror, fear, and betrayal; Aftershock, grief, and repeating patterns; and Becoming my healing strengths. Interpretations from childhood exposure included being constantly in a state of fear, feeling betrayed, being silenced and occasionally having glimmers of hope. Adulthood comprised circular and repeating patterns of traumatic distress, intergenerational repeating, and loss and grief were accumulative on earlier traumatic distress. When the cumulative distress became unbearable, the participants reached a turning point for change. With time, participants redefined ‘self’, facilitated by the growth domains of compassion, acceptance, and reflective listening. With determination, they perceived their growth as a tool for helping future generations, when possible, through new ways of relating. Results of this study demonstrate the significant impact of domestic violence exposure during childhood on adult relational functioning for these participants. Through conscious engagement with the complexity of child and adult domestic violence, hope emerged for transgenerational patterns of violence to be broken.
- Subject
- interpretative phenomenological analysis; domestic violence; trauma; intimate partner violence; posttraumatic growth
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1514849
- Identifier
- uon:56860
- Rights
- Copyright 2022 Elise Rowland
- Language
- eng
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| View Details Download | ATTACHMENT02 | Abstract | 335 KB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |