Stephanie Riger

• PhD
• Researcher at Loyola University Chicago

Feminists have seen profound changes in psychology both in the amount of research on women and gender and in the inclusion of women and others who have been underrepresented in psychology faculties. But beyond promoting those changes, what does it mean to be a feminist psychologist? Here, I discuss ways in which grounding my work in feminism has le...

This chapter concerns thematic analysis, a technique for analyzing qualitative data that involves looking for patterns of meaning that go beyond counting words or phrases. Underlying themes or issues in data are identified and form the basis for theory. Data are analyzed in a several-step process: (a) data familiarization, (b) initial code generati...

Intimate partner violence (IPV) affects people connected to survivors as well as survivors themselves. Despite this, we do not have measures assessing IPV’s impact on others. The Impact on Friends measure was developed to understand the impact of disclosure of sexual assault (SA) on friends of survivors. In the present study, the Impact on Friends...

Starting in the 1960s, many of the critiques of psychological science offered by feminist psychologists focused on its methods and epistemology. This article evaluates the current state of psychological science in relation to this feminist critique. The analysis relies on sources that include the PsycINFO database, the Publication Manual of the Ame...

Substance abuse commonly co-occurs with intimate partner violence among both perpetrators and survivors. Specialized courts that focus on intimate partner violence provide a unique opportunity to address both problems simultaneously, but research has yet to identify whether this happens. In this qualitative study of a domestic violence court in a l...

Starting in the 1960s, feminists argued that the discipline of psychology had neglected the study of women and gender and misrepresented women in its research and theories. Feminists also posed many questions worthy of being addressed by psychological science. This call for research preceded the emergence of a new and influential body of research o...

This article describes an interdisciplinary center at the University of Illinois at Chicago focused on collaborative research on violence. Our center is unique in its emphasis on developing infrastructure and distinctive processes for overcoming obstacles to interdisciplinary research; the involvement of outside policy makers, advocates, and servic...

Many agencies serving survivors of domestic violence are required to evaluate their services. Three possible evaluation strategies include: a) process measurement, which typically involves a frequency count of agency activities, such as the number of counseling hours given; b) outcome evaluation, which measures the impact of agency activities on cl...

Feminists argue that the threat of rape acts as an instrument of social control of women, keeping them in a state of anxiety and encouraging the self-imposition of behavioral restrictions in a quest for safety. This assertion is tested with survey data from residents of Chicago, Philadelphia, and San Francisco. Women fear crime more than men, and e...

This article identifies five answers to the question of whether there are sex differences in abilities and personality traits: the “sociobiology” argument, the “differently situated” argument, the “contingent” argument, the “no differences” argument, and the “disadvantage, not difference” argument. The multiplicity of arguments about sex difference...

Although a correlation between substance abuse (SA) and domestic violence (DV) is well established, very little is known about the temporal relationship of SA and DV victimization. We will explore the relationship between SA and DV victimization using four waves of a longitudinal study of 949 women receiving TANF prior to the first wave of the stud...

This paper considers organizations that empower by examining feminist movement groups. The contemporary feminist movement has generated a wide variety of organizations which provide social services to women and act as vehicles for social change. Yet many of these organizations are short-lived. Factors that affect the structure and goals of feminist...

This prospective study used 3 years of longitudinal data to explore relationships among intimate partner violence (IPV), perceived emotional and material social support, employment stability, and job turnover among current and former female welfare recipients in the immediate post-welfare reform era. Higher levels of current IPV and lower levels of...

This study explored factors associated with a lifetime history of domestic violence and sexual assault in a sample of welfare recipients in Illinois. Results indicate that childhood exposure to domestic violence is a risk factor for both sexual assault and domestic violence victimization, but that childhood physical abuse is only a risk factor for...

Rates of both intimate partner violence and poor health are high among low-income women. This paper examines relationships among abuse, health, and employment stability using data from a 3-year study of over 1000 female welfare recipients in Illinois. Results demonstrate the importance of accounting for both recency and chronicity of intimate partn...

Welfare policies in the United States now make benefits contingent on employment outside the home. Yet violence from intimate partners and aspects of the mothering role may impede low-income women's ability to sustain employment. This article presents results of a longitudinal study conducted over a three-year period of 965 Illinois mothers who had...

The influence of culture and ethnic background on women's experience of domestic violence has been explored in research only recently. Here the authors review research about the impact of culture and minority status in the United States on women's experience of domestic violence, considering family structure,immigration, acculturation, oppression,...

Two factors potentially affect observers’attributions of responsibility to a rape survivor: how closely they identify with the survivor and how much they adhere to rape myths. To assess the impact of these factors, 157 female college students categorized by their sexual assault history and by their acceptance of rape myths, evaluateda sexual assaul...

Welfare reforms enacted in 1996 require that recipients work to receive benefits. Advocates for battered women feared that abusive men would escalate violence in response to independence brought to women by employment. Yet research on employment, domestic violence, and welfare reform has yielded mixed findings. The authors review those findings and...

The authors report the results of an evaluation of services provided by 54 Illinois domestic violence agencies. In collaboration with the University of Illinois at Chicago evaluation team, domestic violence advocates identified services to be evaluated, specified desired outcomes of those services, and participated in developing measures of those o...

This article presents the descriptive results of a statewide evaluation of hotline, advocacy, and counseling services provided to sexual assault victims in Illinois. Collaborative efforts of a multidisciplinary research team and sexual assault service providers resulted in victim-sensitive evaluation measures and data that reflect, for the first ti...

Approximately 15% of married or cohabiting women and as many as 60% of battered women are raped at least once by their partners. This study compared community-based counseling outcomes of battered women with outcomes of women who were both raped and battered by their partners. Over time, both groups improved in wellbeing and coping. Although those...

Many studies of violence against women focus on the impact of abuse on the victim's emotional and physical well-being. Here the authors expand the conceptualization of the impact of violence to include other aspects of the victim's life as well as the lives of those in her social world. Analyses of life narrative interviews with women 1 year after...

This reprinted article originally appeared in American Psychologist, 1992, Vol 47(6), pp. 730-740. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 1992-34834-001.) Feminist criticisms of the neglect, distortion, and exclusion of women in psychological research reflect 3 epistemological positions: feminist empiricism, feminist s...

Although it has stimulated useful and important research and theory in community psychology, the concept of empowerment is problematic. This article criticizes two assumptions and values underlying the concept of empowerment: (a) individualism, leading potentially to unmitigated competition and conflict among those who are empowered; and (b) a pref...

Community psychology has made great strides in including context when understanding people in their environments. While continuing to consider context, we need to expand our conceptualization of the individual in community settings. I propose 3 principles: (1) focus our research on people, not programs; (2) consider multiple dimensions of people's...

Community psychology has made great strides in including context when understanding people in their environments. While continuing to consider context, we need to expand our conceptualization of the individual in community settings. I propose 3 principles: (1) focus our research on people, not programs; (2) consider multiple dimensions of people's...

Welfare reform is likely to have a profound effect on the lives of poor women who are being abused. This article proposes exchange theory and the feminist "backlash hypothesis" as frameworks with which to assess the impact of welfare reform on violence levels in abusive relationships. Exchange theory suggests that if a woman leaves welfare and obta...

This study examines the reliability and convergent validity of the Work/School Abuse Scale (W/SAS), a measure of the ways that abusive men interfere with women's participation in education and employment. Results indicate good reliability as measured by coefficient alpha and significant correlations with both a revised version of the Conflict Tacti...

Findings from the first phase of the Illinois Family Study (IFS), a six-year longitudinal examination of changes in workforce attachment, economic status, and family wellbeing among a representative sample of families receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)

Discusses some of the special problems associated with collaboration between advocates and researchers on research on violence against women. The imminent threat of harm to those who are subjects of study makes high-quality, accurate research especially important. The policy implications of research findings mean that it is critical that research n...

This study developed a scale to measure perceptions of the working environment for female faculty in higher education using data from 626 faculty members from the United States and Canada. The Academic Work Environment for Women Scale includes three dimensions: differential treatment of women, balancing work and personal obligations, and sexist att...

This study developed a scale to measure individual perceptions of dimensions of the work organization that contribute to a supportive or hostile environment for women. Based on analysis of survey data from 398 respondents working in corporate settings, a scale was developed to measure five dimensions: Dual Standards &Opportunities; Sexist Attitudes...

Respondents to numerous surveys about courtroom interaction have identified gender bias as a serious problem in the courts. Consistently, women perceive more bias than do men. To explore the importance of gender, role (judge vs. attorney), experience with bias, and age in predicting perceptions of gender bias in the courtroom, we conducted secondar...

Although it has stimulated useful and important research and theory in community psychology, the concept of empowerment is problematic. This article criticizes two assumptions and values underlying the conept of empowerment: (a) individualism, leading potentially to unmitigated competition and conflict among those who are empowered; and (b) a prefe...

Feminist criticisms of the neglect, distortion, and exclusion of women in psychological research reflect 3 epistemological positions: feminist empiricism, feminist standpoint epistemologies, and postmodern feminism. On the basis of these criticisms, some argue that there is a need for a uniquely feminist method. This article critically examines the...

Many organizations have established policies and procedures to deal with sexual harassment, yet few complaints are reported. Some have suggested that the lack of complaints is due to the absence of a problem, or the timidity or fearfulness of victims. This article proposes that the reasons for the lack of use of sexual harassment grievance procedur...

Although women have successfully surmounted many obstacles to social equality, they are still restrained, restricted and ultimately trapped in a culture of fear. Fear of rape is so pervasive, so integral a part of a woman's life, that it is rarely questioned or publicly discussed. In this unique and provocative book, Margaret T. Gordon and Stephani...

Social networks of 310 chronically mentally ill patients in Chicago-area State mental hospitals were examined to assess the relationship between the number of hospitalizations and network size and composition. As the number and length of admissions increases, although network size remains stable, there are fewer relatives and friends in the network...

Alternative conceptualizations of ethical dilemmas are presented. A structural perspective views the ethical problems discussed by O'Neill (1989) as lack of information which leads to unexpected outcomes, while a political perspective interprets those dilemmas as power struggles. Actors in a community setting may have conflicting goals and interest...

This article critically reviews the development of community mental health in both theory and practice and explores new directions and dilemmas for future policy and programs. First, we trace the dialectical development of the ideology of community mental health and the rediscovery of community. Second, we outline the two key transitions: (a) from...

This article critically reviews the development of community mental health in both theory and practice and explores new directions and dilemmas for future policy and programs. First, we trace the dialectical development of the ideology of community mental health and the rediscovery of community. Second, we outline the two key transitions: (a) from...

At the beginning of their book Constructing Social Problemsm, Spector and Kitsuse (1977) ask a question that they never answer: “What is it that makes crime a social problem?” Is it the absolute number of crimes? Is it the types of crimes committed? Is it the increase in the rate of some crimes or of crime in general? Does crime become a social pro...

While relatively few people are victims of criminal attack each year, many people fear personal crime and take safety precautions that limit their lives. This paper proposes a model of crime as an environmental stressor in order to explicate the links between the threat of criminal attack and people's attitudinal and behavioral reactions to that da...

Examines feminist movement organizations (FMOs) to determine the way internal processes affect goals and structures and to identify the factors that determine the life course of FMOs. The contemporary feminist movement has generated a wide variety of organizations that provide social services to women and act as vehicles for social change. Yet many...

Although crime in the United States is so widespread that it affects a third of the nation's households (Bureau of Justice Statistics Bulletin, 1981), this figure still underestimates the true consequences of crime because the social, emotional and economic costs affect even more people than those directly victimized. Observers for more than a deca...

This investigation examines the impact of three sets of variables, neighborhood conditions, psychological factors, and life circumstances, on women's use of behaviors designed to protect themselves from criminal victimization. Participants in the study were 299 women living in Philadelphia, Chicago, and San Francisco. Two types of precautionary beh...

This study examines the relationship between urban residents' fear of crime and four forms of community involvement: neighborhood bonds (Le., feelings of attachment to the locality), residential ties, social interaction with neighbors, and use of local facilities. Data used to examine these relationships were collected through in-person interviews...

Factors affecting residents" attachments to their communities are investigated using data collected from telephone interviews with 1,620 adults in three U.S. cities. Two dimensions of community attachment are identified: social bonding and physical rootedness. A typology based on these two dimensions yields four key patterns of community attachment...

Provides a detailed description of women's attitudinal and behavioral reactions to crime and discusses the unique nature of crime against women. A variety of sociopsychological and community-related factors that affect women's responses to crime are also discussed. It is argued that women's reactions to crime are shaped by a number of factors resid...

Despite popular portrayals of women's upward job mobility, labor force statistics indicate that few women actually advance to managerial level positions. Psychological research on the scarcity of female managers tends to approach this issue from a person-centered perspective and to focus on characteristics of women as an explanation for their low j...

Explores the extent of urban women's fear, the relationship between fear and the risk of rape victimization, and the consequences of crime and fear of crime in the lives of urban women and men. In-depth interviews were conducted with 299 women and 68 men from 6 neighborhoods in Chicago, Philadelphia, and San Francisco. While women's and men's estim...

Factor analyses of the responses of random samples of men and women from three cities indicate the presence of two relatively independent dimensions of rape prevention attitudes: a) beliefs about measures calling for restrictions in women's behavior, and b) beliefs about measures involving changes in the environment, or assertive actions by women....

Beliefs about the effectiveness of rape prevention strategies influence public cooperation in their implementation. To acquaint public policy makers with these beliefs and to help them assess their impact, a three-city telephone survey of adults was conducted using a random sampling of ages, races, male and female, married and unmarried, from all i...

This study examined whether the locus of control profile typical of political activists characterizes members of women's consciousness-raising groups, and if so, whether it precedes or results from group participation. Locus of control scores of participants for at least 6 mo. in groups are compared with scores of new recruits and women never invol...

This article distinguishes between three intervention practices in the community: community psychiatry, community mental health, and social action. These three represent the different levels of social change efforts which community psychology must consider as it establishes its own identity and its distinctive contribution. The distinctions drawn h...

DISSERTATION (PH.D.)--THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN Dissertation Abstracts International,

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Michigan, 1973. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 167-171). Microfilm.