Adults' Perceptions of and Engagement in Cyberstalking
Session Title
Other Abstracts
Faculty Mentor
Merry Sleigh, Ph.D.
College
College of Arts and Sciences
Department
Psychology
Abstract
We examined adults’ cyberstalking behaviors and added to the existing literature by also assessing their reactions to being cyberstalked. We hypothesized that adults who had previously been cyberstalked would be more concerned about being cyberstalked and more aware of their privacy settings. We also hypothesized that adults who engaged in cyberstalking would be more concerned about being cyberstalked by others and more aware of their privacy settings. Adults (n = 102) responded to an online survey to assess their social media use, social media privacy concerns, cyberstalking behaviors, and concerns about cyberstalking. We also assessed self-esteem, fear of negative evaluation, and impulsivity. Our hypotheses were not supported. Instead, adults seemed to view cyberstalking as an uncommon and positive thing, even while simultaneously expressing concerns about social media privacy. Perhaps adults assume that because they are putting a positive image of themselves on social media, cyberstalking is not problematic. In fact, social media posters may want to be admired by others. As evidence for this assumption, adults particularly liked the idea of romantic partners and friends stalking them, while people who generally feared negative evaluation did not enjoy stalking at all. There may also be a desensitization to being stalked, as increased experience with cyberstalking led to lower privacy worries. These findings provide an interesting perspective on cyberstalking. Historically, cyberstalking has been perceived as negative for the target, but our data suggest this may be an inaccurate assumption for adults engaged in today’s highly interconnected and easily accessed online world.
Honors Thesis Committee
Merry Sleigh, Ph.D., Darren Ritzer, Ph.D., Donna Nelson, Ph.D.
Course Assignment
PSYC 472H – Sleigh
Start Date
15-4-2023 12:00 PM
Adults' Perceptions of and Engagement in Cyberstalking
We examined adults’ cyberstalking behaviors and added to the existing literature by also assessing their reactions to being cyberstalked. We hypothesized that adults who had previously been cyberstalked would be more concerned about being cyberstalked and more aware of their privacy settings. We also hypothesized that adults who engaged in cyberstalking would be more concerned about being cyberstalked by others and more aware of their privacy settings. Adults (n = 102) responded to an online survey to assess their social media use, social media privacy concerns, cyberstalking behaviors, and concerns about cyberstalking. We also assessed self-esteem, fear of negative evaluation, and impulsivity. Our hypotheses were not supported. Instead, adults seemed to view cyberstalking as an uncommon and positive thing, even while simultaneously expressing concerns about social media privacy. Perhaps adults assume that because they are putting a positive image of themselves on social media, cyberstalking is not problematic. In fact, social media posters may want to be admired by others. As evidence for this assumption, adults particularly liked the idea of romantic partners and friends stalking them, while people who generally feared negative evaluation did not enjoy stalking at all. There may also be a desensitization to being stalked, as increased experience with cyberstalking led to lower privacy worries. These findings provide an interesting perspective on cyberstalking. Historically, cyberstalking has been perceived as negative for the target, but our data suggest this may be an inaccurate assumption for adults engaged in today’s highly interconnected and easily accessed online world.
