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Morgan E. PettyJohn

Name

Morgan E. PettyJohn

Advisor

Dr. Heather McCauley and Dr. Adrian Blow

Cohort

Started in Fall 2017

Concentration

Couple and Family Therapy

Email

pettyjo1@msu.edu

Bio

My name is Morgan E. PettyJohn (she/her) and I am a doctoral student in Human Development and Family Studies with a concentration in Couple and Family Therapy. My advisors are Dr. Heather McCauley (School of Social Work) and Dr. Adrian Blow. I am a violence researcher and trauma clinician, with particular interest in sexual assault and intimate partner violence. I am interested in contemporary movements of hashtag activism (e.g., #HowIWillChange, #WhyIDidntReport) and the role they serve in violence prevention by engaging the public in important conversations about rape culture. While these movements are important, I have also seen them have negative clinical impacts on survivors I've treated in therapy. In an effort to expand our understanding of this phenomenon, my dissertation uses mixed methods to examine the impact of social media use on the mental health and relational well-being of sexual assault survivors in the aftermath of the viral #MeToo Movement. 

Keywords and Phrases

Sexual assault, trauma, social media, intimate partner violence, hashtag activism