TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2014//
TI  - Cyberstalking in a large sample of social network users: prevalence, characteristics, and impact upon victims
JO  - Cyberpsychology, behavior and social networking
A1  - Dreßing, Harald
A1  - Bailer, Josef
A1  - Anders, Anne
A1  - Wagner, Henriette
A1  - Gallas, Christine
SP  - 61
EP  - 67
VL  - 17
IS  - 2
N2  - The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of cyberstalking victimization, characteristics of victims and offenders, and the impact of cyberstalking on the victims' well-being and mental health. An online survey of 6,379 participants was carried out, involving users of the German social network StudiVZ. Subjective mental health status was assessed with the WHO-5 well-being index. The prevalence of cyberstalking was estimated at 6.3%. In various aspects, cyberstalking was comparable to offline stalking: cyberstalking occurred most often in the context of ex-partner relationships; most of the victims were female and the majority of the perpetrators were male. Compared to non-victims, victims of cyberstalking scored significantly poorer on the WHO-5 well-being index. The prevalence of cyberstalking is considerable. However, if stringent definition criteria comparable to those of offline stalking are applied, it is not a mass phenomenon. The negative impact of cyberstalking on the victims' well-being appears similar to that of offline stalking. Hence, cyberstalking should be taken as seriously as offline variants of stalking by legal authorities and victim assistance professionals.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 2152-2715
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2012.0231
ID  - ref1
ER  -