Abstract
The purpose of the current study was to determine if victims of stalking have unique personality traits, attachment styles, and communication styles that make them more vulnerable to stalking victimization. The current study compared a group of stalking victims to a group of non-stalking participants to develop a general profile of stalking victims. Participants (N = 180; 78% female, Mean age = 24, SD = 8.18) consisted of students from a private university in southern California and were asked to respond to a series of self-report measures. Results indicated that 21% (N = 38) of participants were victims of stalking. Stalking victims had higher control deficits (t = 3.99, p = .000), higher control surplus (t = 2.14, p = .03), and lower general health scores (t = -2.50, p = .01) as compared to non-stalking participants. Results also showed that stalking victims possessed higher scores of openness (F = 5.41, p = .021), neuroticism (F = 5.29, p = .023), and motivation to defer to dominant partners ( F = 46.79, p = .000) as compared to non-stalking participants. Lastly, a logistic regression revealed that higher scores on neuroticism, motivation to defer to a dominant partner, and extroversion increased college students' risk of being stalked whereas higher scores on interpersonal deference, disequilibrium, and agreeableness decreased college students' risk of being stalked (x2 (11, N = 180) = 67.34, p = .000). Findings provide information that may be used to decrease the prevalence of stalking victimization and inform clinical treatment for victims of this crime.