Stalking Victimization and Emotional Consequences: A Cross-Cultural Comparison Between American and Spanish University Students

Abstract

This paper entails a comparative study between a country that has criminalized stalking for almost three decades (the U.S.) and a nation that just recently outlawed the phenomenon (Spain). Employing a sample of American and Spanish university students, we examined the prevalence and types of stalking behaviors and victims’ emotional responses to their victimization. We also explored whether experiencing a particular category of stalking behaviors (i.e., surveillance and approach stalking) triggers specific emotional responses similarly among American and Spanish victims. We found more than two-thirds (36%) of the Spanish students ( n = 638) and almost half (48%) of the American students ( n = 411) reported that they have experienced the unwanted or intrusive behaviors included in our study. We also found relative to Spanish victims, American victims were significantly more likely to encounter approach stalking and report feeling anxious, angry, depressed, sick, and suicidal as a result of their victimization. Implications of our findings and directions for future research are discussed.

Understanding of Factors Associated with Reporting to the Police, Helping Seeking, and Adopting in Self-protection among Stalking Victims: A Latent Class Analysis

“…Stalking victims experience various negative emotions, including fear, anger, anxiety, and even suicidality due to their stalking victimization, although not all stalking victims experience negative emotions ( Ngo & Paternoster, 2016 ). According to a study among American and Spanish college students ( Cruz & Ngo, 2022 ), 36% of Spanish students and 48% of American students had experienced stalking, and 61.9% of them experienced anger, followed by anxiety (61.6%), fear (35.1%), and helplessness (28.8%) due to their stalking victimization. Nearly 4% of students reported that they felt suicidal.…”

“…For instance, victims who experienced surveillance stalking were more likely to be anxious, fearful, helpless, and sick. Also, victims who had experienced approach stalking were more likely to be angry and depressed ( Cruz & Ngo, 2022 ).…”