Abstract
Stalkers engaging in persistent campaigns of harassment have the potential to cause immense harm to their victims and themselves. Being able to estimate which stalkers are likely to persist longest is important to clinicians dealing with both perpetrators and victims. This study of 200 stalkers investigated characteristics of the stalkers and their behaviour that were associated with increased persistence. Logistic regression models were developed to predict low, moderate, and highly persistent stalking. The results supported previous research indicating that the type of prior relationship between stalker and victim is strongly associated with persistence, with prior acquaintances the most persistent, and strangers least. Being aged over 30, sending the victim unsolicited materials, and having an intimacy seeking or resentful motivation was also associated with greater persistence, as was the presence of psychosis.
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Notes
Information about the racial and ethnic breakdown of the sample was not available as this information was not collected at the community mental health clinic. This is typical of Australian settings where division into 2–3 broad ethnic groupings is not particularly relevant due to the multicultural nature of the society. Australian medical settings only tend to record indigenous ethnicity as a matter of course, and there were no indigenous Australians in the current sample.
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Acknowledgements
This research formed part of the first author’s Doctor of Psychology studies and was supported by a Monash Graduate Scholarship. The authors would like to thank Michael Davis for his assistance with statistical analyses.
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McEwan, T.E., Mullen, P.E. & MacKenzie, R. A Study of the Predictors of Persistence in Stalking Situations. Law Hum Behav 33, 149–158 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10979-008-9141-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10979-008-9141-0