Intimate partner stalking among college students and its situational contexts: A conjunctive analysis of reporting to the police

• In Event: New Directions In Conjunctive Analysis of Case Configurations (CACC) II

Abstract

Approximately 1 in 6 women and 1 in 19 men reported being stalked (i.e., unwanted contact or harassment) at some point in their lifetime (Smith et al., 2017).  Many of these experiences were perpetrated by a current or former intimate partner.  Additionally, advances in technology and social media use, particularly among Millennials and Generation Z, have changed the nature and ability of current and former partners to pursue their victims (Stouthworth et al., 2007).  Notwithstanding prevalence rates, stalking by intimate partners is an understudied facet of intimate partner violence (Logan, 2010).  As such, this research seeks to better understand the situational contexts of this social phenomenon, rather than the importance of event or victim characteristics, particularly among younger generations with more frequent use of technology. Using data from college students attending 24 universities in the United States, we explore the situational contexts of stalking by intimate partners using conjunctive analyses of case configurations, which allows us to construct and identify the various contexts of stalking by intimate partners among college students. We then compare the contexts of incidents that are and are not reported to the police.  The sum of these results are used to inform future research on the topic of intimate partner stalking as well as provide insights into efforts to assist victims and reduce the prevalence of intimate partner stalking among younger generations.

Authors

• Megan Bears Augustyn, University of Texas at San Antonio

• Callie Marie Rennison, University of Colorado Denver

• Gillian M. Pinchevsky, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

• Amy B. Magnuson, Florida State University