A number of studies have demonstrated the mental health implications of excessive Internet-browsing, gaming, texting, emailing, social networking, and phone calling. However, no study to date has investigated the impact of being able to conduct all of these activities on one device. A smart-device (i.e., smart-phone or tablet) allows these activities to be conducted anytime and anywhere, with unknown mental health repercussions. This study investigated the association between smart-device use, smart-device involvement and mental health. Two-hundred and seventy-four participants completed an online survey comprising demographic questions, questions concerning smart-device use, the Mobile Phone Involvement Questionnaire, the Internet Addiction Test and the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scales. Higher smartdevice involvement was significantly associated with higher levels of depression and stress but not anxiety. However, smart-device use was not significantly associated with depression, anxiety or stress. These findings suggest that it is the nature of the relationship a person has with their smart-device that is predictive of depression and stress, rather than the extent of use.

Image-based sexual abuse (IBSA) involves three key behaviors: the non-consensual taking or creation of nude or sexual images; the non-consensual sharing or distribution of nude or sexual images; and threats made to distribute nude or sexual images. IBSA is becoming increasingly criminalized internationally, representing an important and rapidly developing cybercrime issue. This paper presents findings of the first national online survey of selfreported lifetime IBSA perpetration in Australia (n = 4,053), with a focus on the extent, nature, and predictors of perpetration. Overall, 11.1% (n = 411) of participants self-reported having engaged in some form of IBSA perpetration during their lifetime, with men significantly more likely to report IBSA perpetration than women. With regard to the nature of perpetration, participants reported targeting men and women at similar rates, and were more likely to report perpetrating against intimate partners or ex-partners, family members and friends than strangers or acquaintances. Logistic regression analyses identified that males, lesbian, gay or bisexual participants, participants with a self-report disability, participants who accepted sexual image-based abuse myths, participants who engaged in or experienced sexual self-image behaviors, and participants who had a nude or sexual image of themselves taken, distributed, or threatened to be distributed without their consent were more likely to have engaged in some form of IBSA perpetration during their lifetime.

Research in the United Kingdom and Australia has produced inconsistent findings regarding the influence of the prior relationship between the perpetrator and the target on perceptions of stalking. It is unclear whether these inconsistencies represent a genuine cross-cultural difference. The current study investigates the influence of prior relationship and the nationality of participants on perceptions of stalking with a combined sample of 315 university students from the United Kingdom and Australia. Overall, perceptions failed to reflect the reality that ex-partner stalkers pose a greater threat than stranger or acquaintance stalkers. Participants were more likely to believe that behavior constituted stalking, necessitated police intervention, caused fear or apprehension, and caused mental or physical harm when the perpetrator was depicted as a stranger rather than an acquaintance or ex-partner. The direction of findings was consistent in the United Kingdom and Australia, although Australian participants perceived the perpetrator’s behavior to be more severe than did participants from the United Kingdom.

Ex-partner stalkers are more persistent and dangerous than stranger stalkers, but are less likely to be convicted of an offence. This research considers whether the just world hypothesis (JWH) can account for this apparent contradiction. An experimental 3 × 3 independent factorial design was used to investigate the influence of conduct severity and the perpetrator-target relationship on perceptions of stalking. Three-hundred and thirty-four students were presented with one of nine vignettes and asked to complete five scale items relating to the situation described. Conduct severity and the perpetrator-target relationship produced significant main effects for the combined scale items. The perpetrator's behaviour was perceived to constitute stalking, necessitate police intervention and/or criminal charges, and cause the target alarm or personal distress to a greater extent when the perpetrator and target were depicted as strangers rather than ex-partners. Conversely, the target was perceived to be less responsible for encouraging the perpetrator's behaviour in the stranger condition compared to the ex-partner condition. The JWH provides a possible explanation for the influence of the perpetrator-target relationship on perceptions of stalking. Future research could utilise more realistic vignettes to increase the impact of the perpetrator's behaviour.