Stalking is a term used to describe unwanted attention by individuals (and sometimes groups of people) to others. Stalking behaviors are related to harassment and intimidation. The word "stalking" is used, with some differing meanings, in psychology and psychiatry and also in some legal jurisdictions as a term for a criminal offence. It may also be used to refer to criminal offences or civil wrongs that include conduct which some people consider to be stalking, such as those described in law as "harassment" or similar terms.
Definitions of stalking
The difficulties associated with precisely defining this term (or defining it at all) are well documented. It seems to have been first applied to the harassment (in a general sense) of celebrities by strangers who were described as being obsessed. This use of the word appears to have been coined by the tabloid press in the United States.
Psychology and behaviors
Individuals characterised as stalkers may have a mistaken belief that the other person loves them (erotomania), or have a desire to help the other person. Stalking consists of a series of actions which in themselves can be legal, such as calling on the phone, sending gifts, or sending emails.
Stalkers may use threats and violence to frighten their victims. They may engage in vandalism and property damage. They may use physical attacks that are mostly meant to frighten. Less common are sexual assaults or physical attacks.
Psychological effects on stalking victims
Stalking can be a terrifying experience for victims, placing them at risk of psychological trauma and physical harm. Common emotional consequences include depression, anxiety, loss of self-esteem, shame, hopelessness and a sense of vulnerability that can persist long after the stalking ends. It is common for victims to blame themselves, especially if the stalking results from an established relationship with the stalker. Families and friends may contribute to this sense that the victim is at fault. Disruptions in daily life necessary to escape the stalker, including changes in employment, residence and phone numbers, may take a toll on the victim's well-being and lead to a sense of isolation.
According to Lamber Royakkers, "Stalking is a form of mental assault, in which the perpetrator repeatedly, unwontedly, and disruptively breaks into the life-world of the victim, with whom they have no relationship (or no longer have). Moreover, the separated acts that make up the intrusion cannot by themselves cause the mental abuse, but do taken together (cumulative effect)."
Gender studies related to stalking
The majority of reported stalkers are male. The demographic characteristics and psychiatric status of male and female stalkers do not differ, except that male stalkers are more likely to have a history of criminal offenses and substance abuse. The duration of the time invested in stalking and the frequency of associated violence are equivalent between male and female stalkers. Women are more likely to target someone they have known — such as a professional contact — and rarely target strangers. Women often target other women, whereas men generally stalk women only.
In "A Study of Women Who Stalk", Purcell, Pathé and Mullen concluded that the two major psychiatric variables that differentiate female from male stalkers are the motivations for stalking and the choice of victims. Female stalkers more often seek intimacy with their victim, who is usually someone they already know. Victims frequently work in professional helping roles such as doctors, nurses, therapists and counselors. Context was found to differ but the conclusion was that the intrusiveness and harmfulness did not.
A January 2009 report from the Department of Justice in the United States, "Stalking Victimization in the United States", reports updated gender statistics from those cited here. DOJ reported: "Males were as likely to report being stalked by a male as a female offender. Forty-three percent of male stalking victims stated that the offender was female, while 41% of male victims stated that the offender was another male. Female victims of stalking were significantly more likely to be stalked by a male (67%) rather than a female (24%) offender." This report provides considerable data by gender, and race about both stalking and harassment.
Types of stalkers
Psychologists often group individuals who stalk into two categories: psychotic and nonpsychotic. Many stalkers have pre-existing psychotic disorders such as delusional disorder, schizoaffective disorder, or schizophrenia. Most stalkers are nonpsychotic and may exhibit disorders or neuroses such as major depression, adjustment disorder, or substance dependence, as well as a variety of Axis II personality disorders, such as antisocial, avoidant, borderline, dependent, narcissistic, or paranoia. Some of the symptoms of "obsessing" over a person is part of obsessive compulsive personality disorder. The nonpsychotic stalkers' pursuit of victims can be influenced by various psychological factors, including anger and hostility, projection of blame, obsession, dependency, minimization and denial, and jealousy. Conversely, as is more commonly the case, the stalker has no antipathic feelings towards the victim, but simply a longing that cannot be fulfilled due to either in their personality or their society's norms.
In "A Study of Stalkers" Mullen et al. . (2000) identified five types of stalkers:
- Rejected stalkers pursue their victims in order to reverse, correct, or avenge a rejection (e.g. divorce, separation, termination).
- Resentful stalkers pursue a vendetta because of a sense of grievance against the victims – motivated mainly by the desire to frighten and distress the victim.
- Intimacy seekers seek to establish an intimate, loving relationship with their victim. To them, the victim is a long-sought-after soul mate, and they were 'meant' to be together.
- Incompetent suitors , despite poor social or courting skills, have a fixation, or in some cases a sense of entitlement to an intimate relationship with those who have attracted their amorous interest. Their victims are most often already in a dating relationship with someone else.
- Predatory stalkers spy on the victim in order to prepare and plan an attack – usually sexual – on the victim.
The 2002 National Victim Association Academy defines an additional form of stalking: The Vengeance/Terrorist stalker. Both the Vengeance stalker and Terrorist stalker (the latter sometimes called the political stalker) do not , in contrast with some of the aforementioned types of stalkers, seek a personal relationship with their victims but rather force them to emit a certain response favourable to the stalker. While the vengeance stalker's motive is "to get even" with the other person whom he/she perceives has done some wrong to them (i.e, an employee who believes is fired without justification from their job by their superior), the political stalker intends to accomplish a political agenda, also using threats and intimidation to force his/her target to refrain and/or become involved in some particular activity, regardless of the victim’s consent.
Many stalkers fit categories with paranoia disorders. Intimacy-seeking stalkers often have delusional disorders involving erotomanic delusions. With rejected stalkers, the continual clinging to a relationship of an inadequate or dependent person couples with the entitlement of the narcissistic personality, and the persistent jealousy of the paranoid personality. In contrast, resentful stalkers demonstrate an almost “pure culture of persecution,” with delusional disorders of the paranoid type, paranoid personalities, and paranoid schizophrenia.
One of the uncertainties in understanding the origins of stalking is that the concept is now widely understood in terms of specific behaviors --- as a US example, see January 2009 Special Report from the Department of Justice in the US titled "Stalking Victimization in the United States", NCJ 224527 --- which are found to be offensive and/or illegal. As discussed above, these specific (apparently stalking) behaviors may have multiple motivations.
In addition, the personality characteristics that are often discussed as antecedent to stalking may also produce behavior that is not stalking as conventionally defined. Some research suggests there is a spectrum of what might be called "obsessed following behavior." People who complain obsessively and for years, about a perceived wrong or wrong-doer, when no one else can perceive the injury—and people who cannot or will not "let go" of a person or a place or an idea—comprise a wider group of persons that may be problematic in ways that seem similar to stalking. Some of these people get extruded from their organizations—they may get hospitalized or fired or let go if their behavior is defined in terms of illegal stalking. But many others do good or even excellent work in their organizations and appear to have just one focus of tenacious obsession. (See Mary Rowe, "People With Delusions or Quasi-Delusions Who ‘Won't Let Go’," Journal of the University and College Ombuds Association, Occasional Paper, Number 1, Fall 1994.)
Epidemiology and prevalence
Australia
According to a study conducted by Purcell, Pathé and Mullen (2006), 23% of the Australian population reported having been stalked.
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