Department of Legal and Political Sciences, University International of Catalonia, Barcelona, Catalunya, Spain.
Department of Criminology, College of Behavioral and Community Sciences, University of South Florida, Tampa, USA.
Int J Offender Ther Comp Criminol. 2022 May;66(6-7):694-717. doi: 10.1177/0306624X21990816. Epub 2021 Feb 1.
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 ( = 638) and almost half (48%) of the American students ( = 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.
本文对一个将跟踪行为定为犯罪近三十年的国家（美国）和一个最近才将其定为非法行为的国家（西班牙）进行了比较研究。我们采用了美国和西班牙大学生的样本，调查了跟踪行为的普遍程度和类型，以及受害者对受害的情绪反应。我们还探讨了是否经历特定类别的跟踪行为（即监视和接近跟踪）会在类似程度上引发美国和西班牙受害者的特定情绪反应。我们发现，超过三分之二（36%）的西班牙学生（ = 638）和近一半（48%）的美国学生（ = 411）报告说他们经历了我们研究中包含的不受欢迎或侵扰行为。我们还发现，与西班牙受害者相比，美国受害者更有可能遭遇接近跟踪，并报告因受害而感到焦虑、愤怒、沮丧、生病和自杀。讨论了我们研究结果的含义和未来研究的方向。
