Relational networks of women in Victoria and the issue of women abuse in intimate bonds
| dc.contributor.author | Wickson, Elise Jonina | |
| dc.contributor.supervisor | Gallant, Mary J. | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2026-03-19T20:03:11Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2026-03-19T20:03:11Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 1988 | |
| dc.degree.department | Department of Sociology | |
| dc.description.abstract | This study examines and compares the role of women's network structure in marriages. Particular emphasis is placed on relationships where the traumatic bond of wife abuse is present. Women in normal couple bonds are compared with those where abuse has occurred in order to describe the possible impact of the structure of the interpersonal networks of these women with regards to the factor of isolation. The data were based on results of a mailed questionnaire sent to a random sample of 112 married women over 18 years of age who resided in Greater Victoria in 1987. Results show that in fact abused women do have isolating structures in the way they interact with friends and family as well as the kind of communication involved in the bond with their husband. There is a tendency to sporadic bursts of conflict, more extreme and intense in abused women's couple-interaction than in non-abused women's bonds. Also, abused women's networks were focused on interaction with specific family members than were non-abused women's networks. The associations in the results gave a qualified support to the hypotheses. However, new indications of network structure to show long- term interaction patterns with friends, family and in the couples' interaction is needed in future research in order to broaden the comparison so that conditions prompting continuation of abusive behaviour may be more clearly specified and their actual effects determined. | |
| dc.description.scholarlevel | Graduate | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/1828/23512 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | |
| dc.rights | Available to the World Wide Web | |
| dc.title | Relational networks of women in Victoria and the issue of women abuse in intimate bonds | |
| dc.type | Thesis |