THE TOLL OF STALKING: THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FEATURES OF STALKING AND PSYCHOPATHOLOGY OF VICTIMS

December 2000

Abstract
Information on the psychological consequences of stalking on victims is scarce. Research has not reported yet about standardised measures of psychopathology or the impact of specific stalking features on victims’ psychopathology. The present study aimed to investigate whether stalking victims have a heightened prevalence of psychopathology, and the extent to which symptom levels are associated with stalking features. Stalking victims (N=246) completed the General Health Questionnaire and provided information on specific features of their stalking experiences. High levels of psychopathology were found among stalking victims. Symptom levels were comparable to those of psychiatric outpatients. Seventy-seven percent had a symptom level indicating a diagnosable psychiatric disorder. The frequency, pervasiveness, duration and cessation of stalking were associated with symptom levels, but explained only 13 percent of the variance of the level of distress. It is concluded that stalking victims generally have many symptoms of psychopathology. The symptoms are largely independent of features of their stalking experience. These findings indicate that better therapy outcomes can be expected from therapies focusing on boosting general coping skills and on decreasing general vulnerability than from therapies focusing on specifically dealing with the stalking situation.

Excerpts:

Respondents
The sample consisted of 246 victims who all reported stalking episodes over a minimum of one month, and involving more than one intrusive behaviours. Eighty-nine percent were female and 11% were male. The youngest victim was 19 years old and the oldest 82 years (M=43.5 years, SD=10.1). The majority of the victims were living alone (70%), employed (59%) and having children (76%). Twelve percent were local or national celebrities, of which one had become a national celebrity after she had killed her stalker. In 67% of the cases, there was a prior intimate relationship with the stalker, 27% were prior acquaintances and 7% of the stalkers were strangers. 87% of the victims were stalked by a male stalker.

Results
Features of stalking behaviour
All victims reported multiple stalking behaviours. Many victims reported receiving harassing telephone calls (see Table 1). More than half of these telephone calls were made at night and included continuous pleas, negative remarks, death treats or continuous silence. One victim reported approximately 50 telephone calls each day and night. Large numbers of victims reported that stalking behaviours included following, surveillance, receiving harassing letters, unwanted approach, unlawful entry in their homes, damage/theft of property, receiving threats, and physical assaults. Approximately half (52%) spontaneously reported other stalking behaviours, such as rumour spreading, ordering of goods, false accusations, injuring of pets and abduction. A small minority reported bizarre or even unlikely behaviours. One woman claimed to be stalked by her gynaecologist who “wanted to see her naked again”. Another woman claimed to be stalked by the police and by two strangers who allegedly spoke to her through the walls of her living room. A third woman claimed to be followed “everywhere, 24 hours per day by people who were never seen”. There were also some cases whereby fairly normal behaviours were reported to be stalking behaviours. For instance, one woman living nearby a dancing school claimed that groups of people were sometimes loitering nearby.

Of the ten stalking behaviours that were explored in the present study, the victims reported a median number of six stalking behaviours (Range 2-10, M=6.1, SD=1.7). Only 7 percent reported that they were not exposed to intrusive following behaviours (surveillance of victim’s home, following, unlawful entry, unwanted approach) and only 15 percent reported that they were not exposed to violent behaviours (destruction/theft of property, threats, assaults). The majority of victims reported exposure to several intrusive behaviours (Median=3, M=2.6, SD=1.2) and several violent behaviours (Median=2, M=1.6, SD=1.0). These findings indicate that the stalking behaviours were generally pervasive in the present study.

In Table 1 it can be seen that many stalking behaviours have fairly equal distributions in the different samples of victims. The vast majority of the victims in all studies reported that direct unwanted approach, following, surveillance of their homes and receiving harassing telephone calls were the most common stalking behaviours. Direct unwanted approach and physical assault appear somewhat more common in the Dutch sample, whilst receiving letters appears somewhat less common in the Dutch sample. Due to the fact that destruction of property also included theft in the Dutch study, this stalking behaviour was more common in the Dutch sample. Nonetheless, the fairly equal distributions on the different stalking behaviours indicate that to a large extent these are similar in different countries. ..more.. by E Blaauw, F W Winkel, Department of Clinical Psychology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands, E Arensman, Division of Clinical & Health Psychology, Leiden University, The Netherlands