Content Analysis of the Personal Constructs of Female Sexual Abuse Survivors Elicited Through Repertory Grid Technique

Abstract

Construct contents of college women with a history of childhood sexual abuse were compared to those of college women with no abuse history using Landfield's (1971) content coding system. The sexual abuse survivors were best discriminated by fewer constructs referring to emotional arousal; to experiences of calm, peacefulness, and relaxation (low forcefulness), and to moral or religious standards. Abused women also used more factual descriptions and fewer constructs referring to freedom from care (low involvement). Sexual abuse history and use of fewer constructs expressing emotional arousal were related to increased symptom distress. Findings are discussed with reference to the constructivist literature on sexual abuse and to the contemporary applicability of Landfield's system for coding Repertory Grid content.George Kelly proposed that humans are inherently creators of meaning. Using the metaphor of "person as scientist," he described people as continually formulating, testing, and revising personal theories that allow them to anticipate events. Kelly described the basic units comprising personal theories as bipolar contrasts, referred to as personal

Self-Construing In Former Child Soldiers

“…One form of trauma that has received specific research attention is childhood sexual abuse, the long-term effects of which have been shown to include construing of the self as dissimilar to one's parents and other people, and particular features of the content of the construct system, such as limited use of emotional constructs (Bhandari, Winter, Messer, & Metcalfe, 2011;Freshwater, Leach, & Aldridge, 2001;Harter, 2000;Harter, Alexander, & Neimeyer, 1988;Harter, Erbes, & Hart, 2004;Harter & Neimeyer, 1995). While posttraumatic stress reactions have more commonly been studied in the victims of abuse than in its perpetrators, a significant proportion of people who commit acts of violence have been reported to display such reactions (Collins & Bailey, 1990;Dutton, 1995;Kruppa, Hickey, & Hubbard, 1995;Steiner, Garcia, & Matthews, 1997).…”

The Use of the Repertory Grid for Collaboration and Reflection in a Research Context

“…The constructs are personal and group constructs are only constructed later in the process. Fransella et al (2004) cite various examples of both idiographic and nomothetic use of RepGrid. These are reported as being in line with Kelly's own views that the one approach should not be to the exclusion of the other.…”

Investigating the motivation and personal traits of allied health professionals working in remote and rural Australia: the Remote and Rural Allied Health Motivation and Personality (RRAHMP) study

“…Some constructs were assigned to more than one code, or the poles of the construct were assigned to different codes (Ellis-Scheer, 2000;Harter et al, 2004). This occurred particularly with nested codes (Feixas et al, 2002, p. 9).…”

“…Importantly, this decision also ensured that the analysis remained as close as possible to the participants' own words (Harter et al, 2004;Jankowicz, 2004;Leach, Freshwater, Aldridge, & Sunderland, 2001). …”

“…Following the recommendation of Harter, Erbes, and Hart (2004), the construct was selected as the unit for qualitative analysis:…”