NCJ Number
187730
Journal
Violence and Victims Volume: 15 Issue: 4 Dated: Winter 2000 Pages: 473-487
Editor(s)
Roland D. Maiuro Ph.D.
Date Published
2000
Length
15 pages
Annotation
This article reviews how the knowledge of stalking victims and perpetrators has been extended through special research issues and examines how stalking fits into the context of research and theory about relationship violence.
Abstract
Although the systematic study of stalking, both victims and perpetrators, is in its infancy, consistent themes can be seen in the research evidence. One line of investigation that has appeared to be quite productive is the examination of stalking as a form of domestic violence, occurring most often in the context of failed or desired but unreciprocated intimate relationships. Many of the same variables that have been implicated in physical and psychological abuse also are implicated in the early studies of stalking. The relationship between gender and stalking remains unclear. The National Violence Against Women Survey (NVAW) shows many more women victims and a greater emotional impact on women victims. Many studies of moderately large convenience samples have found no or only small gender differences in rates of victimization reported or in self-reported perpetration of stalking. One possibility for these findings is that both the different criteria of stalking victimization used and the possibility that the same activities when engaged in by a man rather than by a woman are appraised as more dangerous. Recent research provides important data about both the perpetrators and victims of stalking, develops significant conceptual resources for the integration of findings, and identifies substantive questions and methodological issues that need to be addressed. References