A Stress Process Model-Chicana Feminist Approach to Understanding Latina Immigrant Experiences and Interpretations of Interpersonal Violence

Wed, March 25, 2026 9:30 AM at 457 Berkey Hall

MSU Chicano/Latino Studies and Sociology Dual Major Doctoral Degree student Teresa Rivera will present her dissertation proposal defense.

Dissertation Proposal Abstract: Existing scholarship has examined the pervasiveness of interpersonal violence (IPV) as a social problem in the United States, with nearly one in two women experiencing IPV during their lifetime (Leemis et al. 2022). Latina immigrants experience substantially higher rates of IPV (70.5%) than the general U.S. population (42%) underscoring the disproportionate burden of IPV within traditionally marginalized communities (Goncalves and Matos 2016; Gonzales 2020). Prior scholarship suggests that this heightened vulnerability is rooted in intersecting inequalities, which structure exposure to violence while simultaneously constraining pathways to safety.

However, sociologically, IPV among Latina immigrants cannot be understood solely as an interpersonal phenomenon.
To address these gaps, this study will employ the Stress Process Model, Social Capital and Social Cost frameworks, and Chicana Feminist theories to develop an integrated sociological account of how IPV is socially embedded, structurally patterned, and cumulatively consequential across the life course. Utilizing a multi-method, sequential convergent qualitative design this dissertation is guided by three interrelated research questions: (RQ1) How do Latina immigrants experience and interpret interpersonal violence as a multidimensional stressor? (RQ2) How do Latina immigrants mobilize psychosocial resources in response to IPV? and (RQ3) How do Latina immigrants interpret and collectively shape coping pathways following experiences of IPV?

Together, these frameworks will provide an integrated theoretical architecture to examine how structural inequality organizes pathways of violence, stress, and coping, while centering Latina immigrants as active agents within conditions of cumulative disadvantage to reveal the material, relational, and emotional costs and capital associated with resource mobilization.