New Research on 3 Forms of Intimate Partner Cyberstalking 

by: psychologytoday

Stalking refers to the act of repeatedly and maliciously following or harassing another person. Stalking may include “maintaining surveillance of, persistent contact with, or directing threats in an effort to manipulate, coerce, and control the victim,” the authors of a recent paper write.

Intimate partner stalking, they note, is usually “a response to the threat of rejection from a current, former, or potential intimate partner.” Compared to others, intimate partner stalkers are more likely to be persistent, intrusive, and aggressive (e.g., assault the victim).

Intimate partner cyberstalking means stalking using electronic means—e.g., checking up on someone using a fake Facebook account. The recent study, written by March and collaborators, explores different dimensions of intimate partner cyberstalking and how they relate to gender. Published in the April issue of Personality and Individual Differences, the paper is summarized below.

Investigating Intimate Partner Cyberstalking

The study sample was 449 MTurk workers (equal percentage of men and women) with an average age of 41 years; 64 percent were in a committed romantic relationship.

To assess differences in cyberstalking, the researchers used a measure containing 21 items, such as, “I have checked my partner’s phone/computer history to see what they’ve been up to,” and “I have used an alternative (‘fake’) online account (e.g., Facebook, Instagram, e-mail) to check others’ profiles without them knowing.”

The Short Dark Tetrad (28 items) was used to measure the Dark Tetrad, which consists of the Dark Triad plus sadism—i.e., Machiavellianism, narcissism, psychopathy, and sadism. Example item: “People often say I’m out of control” (psychopathy). Fundamental social motives were evaluated with a measure containing eight items, which assessed the importance of making friends, ensuring one is safe, making sure one’s mate is happy, etc.

Analysis of the data showed “evidence of a multidimensional model of intimate partner cyberstalking, which includes passive, invasive, and duplicitous forms.” The results also showed that women perpetrated more “overall, invasive, and passive cyberstalking,” than did men.

Furthermore, the dark tetrad personality traits—Machiavellianism, narcissism, psychopathy, and sadism—correlated with overall stalking; however, only psychopathy was associated with the three forms of cyberstalking. Specifically, Machiavellianism, narcissism, and sadism were not associated with invasive cyberstalking, whereas Machiavellianism was unrelated to duplicitous cyberstalking.

Takeaway

The above research concluded there are three types of intimate partner cyberstalking:

• Passive (e.g., checking your ex-husband’s social media accounts, his last online status).

• Invasive (e.g., using your wife’s credentials to log into her email account or phone).

• Duplicitous (e.g., creating a fake Facebook account or pretending to be someone else in an email to your boyfriend).

Of the three types, passive cyberstalking is most common.

Compared to men, women engage in more cyberstalking and in passive and invasive types (particularly to attain a short-term mate or retain a long-term romantic partner).

Obviously, this finding conflicts with the common assumption that most victims of cyberstalking are women and perpetrators are men. How to explain this?

Perhaps the reason for this assumption is that certain behaviors (e.g., checking a person’s last online status) are more likely to be perceived as normal or reasonable if perpetrated by women than men. Of course, only additional research can confirm the veracity of this speculation.

Lastly, the other important finding of the research by March, et al. was that cyberstalking was associated with the Dark Tetrad personality traits—Machiavellianism, narcissism, psychopathy, and sadism. But only psychopathy correlated with invasive forms of intimate partner cyberstalking. This is not surprising, since psychopaths have a greater tendency to take risks.

Source:

https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/finding-new-home/202204/new-research-3-forms-intimate-partner-cyberstalking