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Acknowledgment of Unwanted Pursuit, Threats, Assault, and Stalking in a College Population

Objective: Some victims of harassment correctly acknowledge their victimizations, whereas others under- or overacknowledge their victim status. The validity of such acknowledgments has significant bearing on the validity of prevalence estimates as well as therapeutic or law enforcement prioritization of potential stalking cases. Method: Two surveys in 2012 (n = 2,727) and 2015 (n = 9,161) were emailed to the entire sampling frame of a single large public university student population, including several identical items referencing stalking experiences while at campus. Survey items identified 3 common elements relevant to both stalking laws and researchers: persistent unwanted harassment, evoked fear, and whether or not such harassment was labeled “stalking” by the victim. Results: Across the 2 studies, approximately 14% to 27% of the overall student population reported unwanted pursuit or harassment during their time on campus, 8% to 15% of these reported a sense of feeling threatened or afraid as a result, 5% to 9% experienced threats, and about 1% experienced physical assault in the context of such harassment episodes. Further, approximately 20% to 60% of those deciding whether the label “stalking” applies to their experience decided in error. Conclusions: Depending on the type of stalking victimization, 20% to 60% of those who apply or fail to apply the label “stalking” to their experience appear to do so in error. In order to facilitate progress in acknowledgment research, a new typology is developed, identifying likely types of moderating factors affecting acknowledgment, certain types of research design employed, and types of outcomes anticipated.