Stalking Victimization Among College Students: The Role of Disability Within a Lifestyle-Routine Activity Framework

Abstract

This study utilized the routine activity perspective and incorporated measures of disability to examine the underexplored relationship between disability status and stalking victimization. Survey data from approximately 43,000 college students from across the United States were examined to explore these relationships. Results indicated that disability was a significant risk factor for victimization. Consistent with theoretical expectations, several measures of lifestyles and routine activities also were found to increase risk of stalking victimization, including volunteering, employment, and risk-taking behaviors such as alcohol and drug use. Collectively, the results suggest that measures of disability should be incorporated into future research testing the routine activities perspective for interpersonal victimization.

Stalking on Campus: A Gendered Perspective on Target Congruence and Opportunity

“…First, proximity to offenders was operationalized as a dummy variable measuring whether individuals live on-or off-campus (a score of 1 indicates living on campus). As with past research and consistent with theory, it is assumed living on campus indicates that potential victims are within proximity of other students who might pursue them (e.g., Fisher et al, 2002;Reyns & Scherer, 2017).…”

“…Second, based on measures from prior stalking research (e.g., Fisher et al, 2002; Mustaine & Tewksbury, 1999; Reyns & Scherer, 2017), several variables were included as measures of exposure to motivated offenders: alcohol use, binge drinking, marijuana use, serious drug use, sexual activity, fraternity/sorority membership, athletic participation, volunteering, and employment. As the above research notes, many of these activities and behaviors increase risk by introducing victims to new potential offenders.…”

“…Specifically, young females and multiracial persons are disproportionately stalked in comparison to other groups (e.g., Catalano, 2012; Smith et al, 2017). Furthermore, certain activities—such as drug use or alcohol use—are often linked with increased stalking victimization risk (Fisher et al, 2002; Mustaine & Tewksbury, 1999; Reyns & Scherer, 2017). Given these patterns, a substantial number of studies have investigated stalking victimization against college students, finding that college students are at particular risk not only because of their personal characteristics, but also because of their lifestyles and routine activities (Fisher et al, 2010; Stewart & Fisher, 2013).…”

“…Research by Fisher and colleagues (2002) also examined stalking victimization among a national sample of college women in the United States, reporting that factors such as being at places with alcohol and living alone elevated students' likelihood of being stalked. As another example, Reyns and Scherer (2017) recently tested the lifestyle-routine activities perspective within a national sample of college students and found that alcohol use, binge drinking, illicit drug use, and public activities (i.e., volunteering, employment) were linked with greater chances of stalking victimization.…”

“…This theoretical perspective has been roundly supported within the general victimology literature for its usefulness in identifying opportunity-based determinants for several types of criminal victimization (e.g., McNeeley, 2015; Spano & Freilich, 2009). Yet, the lifestyle-routine activities framework has been under-utilized as an explanation of stalking victimization (with the exceptions of Fisher, Cullen, & Turner, 2002; Mustaine & Tewksbury, 1999; Reyns & Scherer, 2017). Additional tests of the perspective are needed to verify its utility as an explanation for stalking victimization.…”