Characteristics of Cyberstalking Behavior, Consequences, and Coping Strategies: A Cross-Sectional Study in a Sample of Italian University Students

Abstract

Aims: The aim of this study was to compare victims of one type of cyberstalking (OneType) with victims of more than one type of cyberstalking (MoreType) regarding (1) the impact of cyberstalking and (2) attitudes related to telling someone about the experience of cyberstalking and the coping strategies used by victims. Methods: A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to over 250 students at the University of Torino. Results: About half of the participants experienced at least one incident of cyberstalking. Among them, more than half experienced more than one type of cyberstalking. Victims suffered from depression more than those who had never experienced cyberstalking. No statistically significant difference emerged for anxiety. The coping strategies used by MoreType were more varied than those used by OneType victims of cyberstalking. Moreover, MoreType victims told someone about their victimization more than OneType victims. Conclusion: The work presented suggests implications for health care professionals, police officers, and government. For example, our suggestion is to pay attention to cyberstalking victims and provide flyers in schools, universities, and cafeterias that explain the risk of certain online behaviors and their consequences in physical and emotional spheres.

Coping Strategies and Anxiety and Depressive Symptoms in Young Adult Victims of Cyberstalking: A Questionnaire Survey in an Italian Sample

“…Short and colleagues [11] analyzed data from 353 self-defined victims of stalking and found that the majority of the victims were female (240) between the ages of 20 and 39 (58.6%). In a previous study conducted by two of the authors of this work [12,13] that involved 107 young adult self-declared victims of cyberstalking, the findings showed that the victims were mainly females (61%). Similar findings were found by Fissel [14]; among the sample of 1500 participants in her survey, 31.8% were identified as victims of cyberstalking victimization, and women comprised the majority of the sample (69%).…”

“…Such undesirable behaviours are perceived by the victim as annoying, unwanted, or threatening to their own safety." This definition was already used in an Italian survey with university students [12,13]. Participants were asked if they experienced a cyberstalking conduct, such as online contact, harassment, threats of violence, unwanted sexual advances and identity fraud (for each type of behavior, there was an item; possible answers were yes/no).…”

“…There was also a question about the frequency of the behavior (participants could indicate one of the following answers: one or more times a day, more than three times a week, once a week, once a month, less than once a month). This questionnaire was used in previous investigations on cyberstalking in an Italian sample [12,13]. Coping strategies were investigated using 15 items taken from the Italian version of the Questionnaire on Stalking [34].…”

“…Depression was measured using the shortened Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) [35][36][37]. This scale consists of 13 items that allow the classification of depressive symptoms according to different levels of gravity: none or minimal depression (scores 0-4), mild depression (5-7), moderate depression (8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15) or severe depression (>15) (in this study, Cronbach's α was 0.83). Anxiety symptoms were measured using the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) [38,39].…”

“…The second aim was to analyze the coping strategies and the consequences (in terms depression and anxiety) that occurred in victims. In accordance with the literature [11][12][13][14], to better understand the impact of the cyberstalking behavior, a comparison was made between genders (males and females). The target population was young adults because, as suggested by Alexi and colleagues [2] and Lenhart and colleagues [4], they are more at risk of cyberstalking victimization than other individuals.…”