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Article published In:
Methodology of Narrative Study: What the first thirty years of Narrative Inquiry have revealed
Edited by Allyssa McCabe and Dorien Van De Mieroop
[Narrative Inquiry 31:1] 2021
► pp. 236–262

Agency and communion in sexual abuse survivors’ narratives

| Holyoke Community College
| University of Massachusetts Lowell

This study uses a form of narrative analysis to examine a sample of sexual abuse survivors’ impact statements (n = 117) given in court at the sentencing of the former USA Gymnastics Olympic team doctor, Larry Nassar. Narrative analysis allows for prioritization of the victim’s perspective. Statements are analyzed using themes of agency and communion (McAdams et al., 1996) and ineffectiveness and alienation (McCabe & Dinh, 2016). Inclusion of ineffectiveness and alienation extends the work of McAdams, which began in the 1990s. Findings show that ineffectiveness and communion are positively correlated, as are ineffectiveness and alienation. Age and agency are also positively correlated such that older victims readily express themes of personal power and achievement. Agency and alienation are significantly more common in the statements than ineffectiveness. These findings suggest that participants’ sense of communion is particularly harmed by their victimization, and that impact statements have agentic-based and communion-based functions.

Keywords: Child sexual abuse, agency, communion, victim impact statement, narrative, Nassar
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Themes of agency and communion
    • Agency, communion, victimization, and the justice system
      • Victim impact statements
  • The present study
  • Method
    • Participants
    • Measures
      • Demographic measures
        • Age
        • Race and gender
    • Materials and procedures for data collection and coding
      • Themes of agency and communion
        • Reliability of coding
  • Results
    • Relationships between the variables
    • Comparing the themes
      • Subthemes
  • Discussion
    • Most prevalent themes and most prevalent subthemes
    • Relationship between Age and the Themes
    • Limitations
    • Future directions
  • Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 27 October 2020
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ni.20061.wil
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