“I’m that ride or die wife”: how women with incarcerated partners narratively construct identity

For women in committed romantic relationships with incarcerated men, their partner’s imprisonment transforms their personal and social worlds and subjects them to courtesy stigma. Drawing on stigma management and narrative frameworks, the present study analyzes 190 online narratives to understand how women with incarcerated partners construct personal identities in response to courtesy stigma. Inductive thematic analysis revealed four different personal identities women with incarcerated partners construct: (a) agentic, (b) devout, (c) transformed, and (d) destined. The findings of the study contribute to the scant literature in communication on the lived experiences of those affected by incarceration and provide insight into personal narratives as a tool for identity repair in the face of courtesy stigma.