title: The personality of pursuit: personality attributions of unwanted pursuers and stalkers.
abstract: A sample of 292 college students recalled a partner who had engaged in unwanted pursuit (46%) or recalled their most recent "normal" dating relationship. Subjects rated their own level of stalking victimization and rated the partner on a series of personality characteristics and social competence. Unwanted pursuers were perceived as less socially competent, more histrionic, more borderline, and less obsessive-compulsive, with discrimination of "normals" from unwanted pursuers of approximately 75% to 80% accuracy. These attributions also significantly predicted a continuous measure of unwanted pursuit victimization (R = .406). Implications for developing more precise and practical risk profiles of unwanted pursuers are discussed.
authors.affiliation: School of Communication, San Diego State University, CA 92182-4561, USA. spitz@mail.sdsu.edu
authors.forename: Brian H
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Spitzberg
authors.forename: Alice E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Veksler
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002140:California; D003380:Courtship; D019548:Crime Victims / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D009770:Obsessive Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D010552:Personality Assessment; D012649:Self Concept; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires