Date of Award

January 2015

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Educational Studies

First Advisor

Heather L Servaty-Seib

Committee Member 1

Ayşe Çiftçi

Committee Member 2

Tara Johnson

Committee Member 3

Erina L MacGeorge

Abstract

Miscarriage is a relatively common event that occurs in approximately 15 to 20 percent of identified pregnancies (Maker & Ogden, 2003). Men and women often view miscarriage as a real and meaningful loss (Johnson & Puddifoot, 1996; McCreight, 2004). The vast majority of research focused on the experience of miscarriage has emphasized the feelings, thoughts, and behaviors of women (Conway & Russell, 2000; McCreight, 2004). However, minimal research exists focused on men’s experience after miscarriage (Rinehart & Kiselica, 2010). The present phenomenological study examined the experience of men after miscarriage including aspects such as responses (e.g., emotions and behaviors), coping, meaning-making, and perspectives of masculinity and gender roles. Data were collected through individual, in-person, interviews with nine men affected by miscarriage. Men also completed two measures examining their perspectives on masculinity and gender roles. I organized the data that were represented by all participants into five superordinate themes: men’s emotional and behavioral expressions, men’s views of their partners’ emotional and cognitive expressions, coping, meaning reconstruction, and men’s perspectives on masculinity and gender roles.

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