What to do About Stalking: A Preliminary Study of how Stalking Victims Responded to Stalking and their Perceptions of the Effectiveness of These Actions

• NCJ Number: 242666
• Journal: Criminal Justice Studies Volume: 26 Issue: 1 Dated: March 2013 Pages: 43-66
• Author(s): James Geistman; Brad Smith; Eric G. Lambert; Terry Cluse-Tolar
• Date Published: March 2013
• Length: 24 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This research has examined whether strategies used against stalking have proven effective.

Abstract

While stalking researchers have cataloged various strategies used by victims to deal with stalking, little research has examined whether these strategies have proven effective. Using data collected from undergraduates at a Midwestern university, the authors examined the effects of informal responses for victims of both violent and nonviolent stalking who responded to the stalker on their own and victims who enlisted the help of others. Findings indicated that victims who enlisted help from family and friends in their informal responses to the stalker were more successful in attenuating the effects of both violent and nonviolent stalking. Victims of stalking generally were more likely than nonvictims to feel that formal coping strategies were ineffective. Abstract published by arrangement with Taylor and Francis.