Intimacy and Family Among Single, Working-Class Women: A Focus on Rural Appalachia

Simple item page
dc.contributor.authorMcCann, Brandy R.en
dc.contributor.committeechairAllen, Katherine R.en
dc.contributor.committeememberMeszaros, Peggy S.en
dc.contributor.committeememberRoberto, Karen A.en
dc.contributor.committeememberFew-Demo, April L.en
dc.contributor.departmentHuman Developmenten
dc.date.accessioned2011-08-22T19:02:27Zen
dc.date.adate2010-10-26en
dc.date.available2011-08-22T19:02:27Zen
dc.date.issued2004-06-10en
dc.date.rdate2010-10-26en
dc.date.sdate2010-09-13en
dc.description.abstractWith people living longer and coming into old age with more diverse relational experiences than previous cohorts (e.g., divorce, cohabitation), researchers anticipate that the so-called baby boomers will be more interested in pursuing romantic relationships in later life than their predecessors. On the other hand, we know that the experience of aging varies among people on the basis of their social locations (e.g., racial, gender, class). As central Appalachia is a place characterized by persistent poverty, I interviewed single, midlife White women from a community in West Virginia (N=11) to investigate (a) their experiences with family life and (b) their expectations for romantic relationships in later life. I used grounded theory methodology to develop a theory of intimacy and family life in central Appalachia. I found that the women who were more integrated into their families of origin had little or no interest in romantic relationships, regardless of their past relationship history. Women who perceived their childhoods as traumatic were less integrated into their families of origin and had a weaker sense of place, but had more interest in finding a romantic partner in later life. I concluded for those with a strong sense of place the importance of the family of origin persisted through midlife and into old age.en
dc.description.degreePh. D.en
dc.format.mediumETDen
dc.identifier.otheretd-09132010-185930en
dc.identifier.sourceurlhttp://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-09132010-185930en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/11201en
dc.publisherVirginia Techen
dc.relation.haspartMcCann_BR_D_2010.pdfen
dc.rightsIn Copyrighten
dc.rights.urihttp://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/en
dc.subjectSingle Womenen
dc.subjectFamilyen
dc.subjectGrounded Theoryen
dc.subjectAppalachiaen
dc.subjectMidlifeen
dc.titleIntimacy and Family Among Single, Working-Class Women: A Focus on Rural Appalachiaen
dc.typeDissertationen
thesis.degree.disciplineHuman Developmenten
thesis.degree.grantorVirginia Polytechnic Institute and State Universityen
thesis.degree.leveldoctoralen
thesis.degree.namePh. D.en

Files

Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
McCann_BR_D_2010.pdf
Size:
1.82 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Download

Collections

Doctoral Dissertations
Award-winning Theses and Dissertations