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The Polite Abuser: Using Politeness Theory To Examine Emotional Abuse, Cimmiaron Alvarez

Theses and Dissertations

Over the last few decades more and more cultural attention has been paid to intimate partner violence, especially emotional abuse. Follingstad, Rutledge, Berg, Hause, and Polek (1990) established that emotional abuse fell into six distinct categories, however, little attention had been paid to how abusers can utilize polite communication to hurt their partner. Equally, Brown and Levinson’s politeness theory (1987) had never been applied to problematic communication (Austin, 1990). This study aimed to understand how polite communication can be used as a form of emotional abuse. In-depth, semi structured interviews were conducted with 20 participants who self-identified as having been …

To Promote Or Prevent When Near Or Far: Exploring Regulatory Focus In Geographically-Close And Long-Distance Relationships, Adam James Hampton

Theses and Dissertations

No research to date has examined how regulatory focus theory applies to relationships that are maintained long-distance, nor if individuals’ regulatory orientations differ in predicting relationship maintenance efforts between relationships that are geographically-close and those that are long-distance. The current study explores the communication efforts, ideal perceptions, and regulatory behaviors of individuals as a function of their regulatory focus (promotion focus vs. prevention focus) and relationship type (geographically-close vs. long-distance). One hundred eighty participants completed a survey that assessed their relationship type, regulatory focus, and relationship maintenance efforts (i.e., communications, perceptions, and behavior). Overall, it was found that individuals in …

Living In And Between"Two Different Worlds": Arab American Women, Identity, And Their Interethnic Romantic Relationships, Samar Dababneh

Theses and Dissertations

Due to the growth of Middle Easterners living in America, the study of interethnic

romantic relationships among Arab American women is crucial. The primary objective of this study is to achieve a deeper understanding through in-depth respondent interviews about the Arab American woman's interethnic romantic relationships, familial relationships, and platonic relationships specifically, to discover her use of identity negotiation and management with use of thematic analysis. The pressure for an Arab American woman to find a partner based on parental guidelines creates this notion of living "two separate worlds," thus, affecting the negotiation of her multiple identities. While some Arab …