Research suggests that disaffiliation from a religious organization brings a myriad of positive and negative consequences to those who choose to disaffiliate. This is the first study to examine the specific impact of disaffiliation on how women who have disaffiliated from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints conceptualize womanhood. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 24 women who voluntarily chose to disaffiliate from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Data were analyzed using interpretive phenomenology, informed by hybrid identity theory. Findings suggest that women who disaffiliate from the church undergo an intense and painful identity reconstruction where they create a hybrid identity that includes their Mormon identity and other identities they have chosen to embody. Findings outline the limitations participants felt as women in the church, the pain and mourning experienced throughout the disaffiliation process, and the empowerment and expansion of their self-concept of womanhood felt post-disaffiliation. Limitations of this study, future research, and clinical implications are discussed. / Master of Science / People are choosing to disaffiliate from religious organizations in highly increasing numbers. Individual experiences of disaffiliation vary and often bring a combination of both positive and negative consequences. This study examines the experiences of women who were raised in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and how their choice to step away from the church impacted their self-concept of womanhood. The results of this study confirm that the disaffiliation process prompts an intense and painful identity crisis in which participants had to reconstruct how they viewed all parts of their identities. Findings outline how women felt limited by church teachings, the intense pain and mourning they experienced as they left the church, and how their ideas of womanhood expanded and felt more empowered post-disaffiliation. It is important for therapists to create space in-session for women, at any point in the disaffiliation process, to process feelings of grief and resentment, explore their identities, and reclaim themselves in an empowering and strengths-based environment.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/106495 |
| Date | 11 May 2020 |
| Creators | Janes, Emily Elizabeth |
| Contributors | Adult Learning and Human Resource Development, Muruthi, Bertranna Alero, Cunanan-Petty, Elnora Danao, Landers, Ashley Lace |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | ETD, application/pdf |
| Rights | In Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
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