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This study investigated the extent to which social support mediates negative effects of stalking and obsessive relational intrusion (ORI) victimization. A survey of 1,068 respondents indicated that (a) ORI/stalking victimization is positively related to negative symptoms and trauma; (b) five different types of coping responses are positively related to negative symptoms; (c) four domains of social support reveal small but significant negative relationships with negative symptoms; and (d) females are more threatened by unwanted pursuit than male victims, and male pursuers are more threatening than female pursuers. Structural equation modeling indicates that the influence of ORI/stalking on negative symptoms is mediated by the use of coping strategies and the adequacy of social support. Discussion speculates on the functional theoretical value of coping and support processes in managing unwanted pursuit and stalking.
Keywords: stalking; unwanted pursuit; coping; social support; trauma
Stalking occurs when an individual is harassed in a premeditated, persistent, unwanted, and fear-inducing manner (Meloy, 1996; Mullen, Pathé, Purcell, & Stuart, 1999; Spitzberg & Cupach, 2003). A closely related pattern of behavior is obsessive relational intrusion (ORI), which is a "pattern of unwanted pursuit and intrusion in search of intimacy with a person who does not want that intimacy" (Dutton & Spitzberg, 2007, p. 4). Both ORI and stalking are patterns of unwanted disjunctive relational activities occurring across time and place and produce fear, anxiety, or a sense of threat in the target of such intrusions (Cupach & Spitzberg, 2004; Kamphuis, Emmelkamp, & Bartak, 2003). Given the negative effects of ongoing unwanted intrusion and harassment, it is important to examine how victims cope with such unwanted pursuit and whether certain types of coping manage the problem better than others.
OBSESSIVE RELATIONAL INTRUSION AND STALKING
Large scale representative studies in the United States find that about 2% of men and 7%-8% of women have ever experienced stalking (Basile, Swahn, Chen, & Saltzman, 2006; Rees et al., 2011; Tjaden & Thoennes, 1998), and in a 12-month period of time, 2% of women and less than 1% of men experience stalking (Baum, Catalano, Rand, & Rose, 2009). Descriptive meta-analyses across stalking studies reveal considerably higher rates (Spitzberg & Cupach, 2007; Spitzberg, Cupach, & Ciceraro, 2010). Spitzberg and Cupach (2007) found the average duration of stalking across studies...