Citation

Reyns BW. Vict. Offender 2019; 14(2): 183-198.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/15564886.2018.1557092

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The author provides one of the first empirical examinations of cyberstalking perpetration. The extent and nature of cyberstalking are investigated using a sample of college students from a large university in the Midwest. The results indicate that cyberstalking was perpetrated by 4.9% of research participants. In addition, the findings suggest that persons with low self-control are significantly more likely than their peers to perpetrate cyberstalking. Those who participated in sexting were also more likely to engage in cyberstalking. However, these variable effects differed by sex. In particular, women with low self-control were at higher risk of perpetrating cyberstalking, while low self-control did not affect offending risk for men. These results speak to the potentially gendered nature of cyberstalking, while at the same time finding that the prevalence of offending was essentially the same for men and women.

Language: en

Keywords

cybercrime; cyberstalking; harassment; stalking