Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Symptoms in Secondary Stalked Children of Danish Stalking Survivors—A Pilot Study

Abstract

There is a lack of research examining secondary stalking and its effect on children who, in many cases, can be direct targets, or secondary survivors, of the stalking of their parent. The present study examines trauma reactions in children of stalking survivors in a Danish sample. It investigates the differences and similarities of such reactions across three age groups. Fifty-seven children were divided into groups depending on their age. The symptoms of the youngest group, 0–6-year-olds, were investigated by way of a maternal diagnostic interview. The two older groups, 7–11- and 12–19-year-olds completed the age-appropriate questionnaires, “Darryl” and “HTQ”, respectively, online. Twenty-two percent of the youngest group met the criteria for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Eighty-five percent of the middle age group and 58% of the older age group met PTSD diagnostic criteria. The findings illustrate that reactions to secondary stalking were predominantly within the arousal cluster of PTSD symptomology, with sleep disturbances and irritability commonly reported. The overall prevalence of children meeting PTSD diagnostic criteria in the sample was 56%. Future studies will benefit from larger samples and from knowledge of any pre-existing relationship between parent and stalker.

Coercive control and technology-facilitated parental stalking in children’s and young people’s lives

“…The distinction between on-line and off-line stalking is porous (Sheridan and Grant, 2007;Southworth et al, 2007;Ahlgrim and Terrance, 2021;Harris and Woodlock, 2019), and the digital dimension can heighten the common impacts of stalking (Aghtaie et al, 2018;Marganski and Melander, 2018;Henry et al, 2020). Stalkers can use digital data to identify the victim's location, making themselves 'omnipresent' and intensifying the continual fear felt by both adult and child victims (Nikupeteri and Laitinen, 2015;Woodlock, 2017;Worsley et al, 2017;Elklit et al, 2019). Meanwhile, victims may, for example, avoid events or meetings that could appear on social media (Woodlock, 2017;Douglas et al, 2019;Al-Alosi, 2020;Woodlock et al, 2020).…”

“…Perpetrators often exploit children in their stalking behaviour, and children can also be targets of stalking themselves. The father's/father figure's stalking behaviour produces feelings of insecurity and fear in children and severely constrains their everyday lives (Nikupeteri and Laitinen, 2015;Elklit et al, 2019). However, so far we lack knowledge of how children can be exposed to the technology-facilitated aspects of stalking perpetrated by a parent in this post-separation context.…”

“…Monk and Bowen (2020) suggest that the responses of professionals play a vital role in the success or failure of coercive control perpetrators' agendas. By scrutinising the impacts of technology-facilitated stalking on children and young people, and fully recognising that the stalking of their parent or children themselves can be traumatising for children (Elklit et al, 2019), professionals can help children and young people and their mothers to be free of this abuse. In particular, professionals should understand how tactics of technology-facilitated parental stalking are based on broader genderbased practices -similar to other forms of violence against women and childrenand the array of harmful consequences that these tactics produce in children's and young peoples' lives.…”

Does children’s fear matter? Evaluating children’s positions in Finnish court decisions on stalking

“…According to Elklit et al. ( 2019 ), the outcomes of parental stalking for children involve complex, multiple‐event, and continuous trauma. In their study, which involved 57 children, 56% met the diagnostic criteria for post‐traumatic stress disorder.…”

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in children with severe epilepsy

“…However, children experience and express the symptoms differently depending on age and developmental stage [39]. See Elklit et al [40] for a thorough comparison across preschool children (age 0-6 years), school children (age 7-11 years), and adolescents (age 12-18 years).…”