Keywords

intimate partner violence; child welfare; law; policy

Abstract

Intimate partner violence (IPV)—as gender violence—pits children’s civil rights and women’s civil liberties against each other. To explore this phenomenon, the current work features five (5) studies that aim to understand the systemic consequences of IPV and child maltreatment for victims and survivors of both types of abuse.

  • Study 1 is a qualitative-deductive study featuring a directed content analysis of news media pertaining to a trial court case on lethal child maltreatment and IPV.
  • Study 2 is a qualitative-inductive study featuring a feminist critical discourse analysis of trial court data on lethal child maltreatment and IPV.
  • Study 3 is a quantitative study featuring an analysis of the conditional role of failure-to-protect statutes in the indirect relationship between IPV and gendered incarceration through substantiation of domestic violence in child maltreatment victimization.
  • Study 4 is a quantitative study featuring multiple regression analysis to understand if child maltreatment referral rates are impacted by the intersection of absolute advocate confidentiality-privilege statutes and universal mandatory reporting statutes.
  • Study 5 is a qualitative pilot study featuring a grounded theory-infused policy surveillance of executive orders on child maltreatment and IPV across the 50 United States.

Overall, the current work illuminates key aspects of the intersection of IPV and child maltreatment, of victim advocacy and child welfare, and of law and society.

Completion Date

2026

Semester

Spring

Committee Chair

Donley, Amy

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

College

College of Sciences

Department

Department of Sociology

Format

PDF

Document Type

Dissertation

Identifier

DP0053098

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