When Daddy Stalks Mommy: Experiences of Intimate Partner Stalking and Involvement of Social and Legal Authorities When Stalker and Victim Have Children Together.

This study examined intimate partner stalking experienced by 196 mothers stalked by the father of their children. Respondents completed a questionnaire concerning experiences of stalking and level of support by the authorities. Results revealed higher rates of harassing than violent stalking. In many cases, the children were also targeted by the stalking. Encounters with several agencies were common, but respondents were often not recognized as victims of stalking and demoralized by extensive case proceedings. This study calls for a special sensitivity of professionals encountering stalked parents in their work and highlights a need for coordination and cooperation among multiple agencies.

Critical aspects in the legal defence of patients with Tourette's Syndrome: An Italian case series.

Tourette's syndrome (TS) is a developmental neurobehavioral disorder with childhood onset and relevant burden in terms of disability and reduced quality of life. In Italy the biological basis of this syndrome is still frequently ignored and TS is often recognised as a psychiatric manifestation, or even it is not recognised as pathology, which may result in inadequate treatment, social isolation and improper hospitalization. Indeed, the organic medical nature of TS needs to be taken into great consideration in evaluating causality of committing crimes in affected patients. In addition, delaying the diagnosis and consequently proper treatment has a devastating impact on social as well as legal aspects in patients with TS. The present report is aimed to present an Italian case series of 4 TS patients who faced legal problems related to their mental condition, in the intent to add further evidence, raise the level of awareness and encourage further investigation in the field, as in most of the cases, patients' illness was not taken into adequate account by the Justice. The relevant law is discussed in detail.

The Abuse of Technology in Domestic Violence and Stalking.

We focus on an emerging trend in the context of domestic violence-the use of technology to facilitate stalking and other forms of abuse. Surveys with 152 domestic violence advocates and 46 victims show that technology-including phones, tablets, computers, and social networking websites-is commonly used in intimate partner stalking. Technology was used to create a sense of the perpetrator's omnipresence, and to isolate, punish, and humiliate domestic violence victims. Perpetrators also threatened to share sexualized content online to humiliate victims. Technology-facilitated stalking needs to be treated as a serious offense, and effective practice, policy, and legal responses must be developed.

Stalking Victimization, Labeling, and Reporting: Findings From the NCVS Stalking Victimization Supplement.

Using the National Crime Victimization Survey 2006 Stalking Victimization Supplement (NCVS-SVS) and guided by Greenberg and Ruback's social influence model, this study examines the effects of individual (e.g., severity, sex, victim-offender relationship) and contextual (e.g., location) factors on stalking victimization risk, victim labeling and help seeking, and victim and third-party police contacts. Logistic regression results suggest individual and contextual characteristics matter. Consistent with prior research and the theoretical model, the positive effects of severity and sex (female) were significant across all dependent variables, whereas the interaction effect of victim-offender relationship and location held only for third-party police contacts.

Unexpected subthreshold autism spectrum in a 25-year-old male stalker hospitalized for delusional disorder: a case report.

This paper highlights the clinical challenges faced when assessing patients with stalking behaviors with psychotic disorders, suggesting the need for an accurate assessment of adult autism spectrum symptoms. A 25-year-old man with a diagnosis of delusional disorder, erotomanic type, was hospitalized for acute psychotic symptoms occurred in the framework of a repeated stalking behavior towards his ex girlfriend. When assessed for adult autism spectrum symptoms upon an accurate clinical evaluation, he reported elevated scores in the mentalizing deficit and social anxiety domains by means of the 14 item Ritvo Autism and Asperger Diagnostic Scale (RAADS-14). Authors discuss a possible role of adult (subthreshold) autism spectrum symptoms, generally disregarded in adult psychiatry, on the type of psychotic features and stalking behavior developed that may help for appropriate diagnosis and treatment.

Understanding stalking behaviors by individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders and recommended prevention strategies for school settings.

Stalking behavior among some students with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) is of concern both for the individual being stalked as well as the student with ASDs. This manuscript reviews effective interventions based upon functional assessment and appropriate positive behavior supports. Specific interventions for addressing staking behavior by students with ASDs are analyzed and evaluated with suggestions for best practice for instructional procedures. Interventions covered are social skills groups, video modeling, self-management, video feedback, rule governed behavior, scripts, visual supports, counseling, psychopharmacology and reducing the amount of isolating interests and activities while increasing more opportunities for integration. Recommendations for future research are discussed.

Cyberbullying en el colegio / Cyberbullying at school

El cyberbullying (CB) es el uso de los medios telemáticos (internet, telefonía móvil y videojuegos online principalmente) para ejercer el acoso psicológico entre iguales. El objetivo del presente estudio es conocer su prevalencia en dos centros escolares de Educación Secundaria Obligatoria (ESO) de Toledo, uno de titularidad pública y otro concertado. Se trata de un estudio observacional descriptivo y transversal cuya muestra estuvo formada por 190 adolescentes con edades comprendidas entre los 11 y los 16 años. Los resultados indican que un 46,8% ha sufrido alguna vez cyberbullying y un 2,2% lo ha padecido a menudo. Las conductas y vías de comunicación que con mayor frecuencia se han utilizado para acosar, han sido los mensajes ofensivos a través de móvil y/o internet y la difusión de rumores para hacer daño a la víctima. Merece la pena destacar que casi un tercio de los alumnos acosados no solicita ningún tipo de ayuda para enfrentarse a ello. Se trata de un fenómeno claramente establecido en nuestra sociedad y en un pequeño porcentaje de los casos llega a ser un problema grave(AU)

The aim of this study is to known the prevalence of cyberbullying, and how these students behave. We designed a transversal, descriptive and observational study in two educative centers of Educación Secundaria Obligatoria (ESO) in Toledo (Spain). The sample comprised 190 students of both genders and ages between 11 and 16 years. Results indicated that 46.8% of the adolescents had been bullied by Information and communication technology (ICT). The behaviors and communication channels that are most frequently used to harass, have been offensive messages through mobile and / or Internet and spreading rumors to harm the victim. It is worth noting that almost a third of students harassed not request any help to deal with it. The cyberbullying phenomenon is clearly established in our society and a small percentage of cases it becomes a serious problem (AU)

Bullying in Spanish secondary schools: gender-based differences

The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of bullying in its various forms from the perspective of all of the individuals involved (victims, bullies, and witnesses) and to explore its distribution as a function of gender. The study had a correlational design and used a representative sample of 1500 Spanish students attending compulsory secondary education in the academic year 2007-2008. It applied an instrument measuring different types of bullying, taken from the studies conducted by Díaz-Aguado, Martínez, and Martín (2004) and the Defensor del Pueblo (Spanish Ombudsman’s Office)-UNICEF (2007). The findings reveal that all the types of bullying considered take place at school and that there is an inverse relationship between the severity and the prevalence of bullying behaviors, with verbal abuse proving to be the most common type of abusive behavior. Boys are involved in all kinds of bullying incidents as bullies significantly more often than girls are, except in cases involving ‘talking about someone behind their back’; in these situations, girls are involved significantly more often as bullies than boys are. As for victimization, boys are victims of direct physical abuse significantly more often than girls are, while girls are more often the subject of malicious gossip (AU)

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Agredidos que agreden: la relación recíproca entre víctima y agresor en situaciones de acoso psicológico en el trabajo / The bullied who bullies: the reciprocal relationship between victim and aggressor in workplace bullying situations

El objetivo del presente estudio consistió en explorar las relaciones longitudinales entre los factores organizacionales (sobrecarga de trabajo y justicia procedimental) y ser agresor y víctima de conductas de acoso. Se compararon distintos modelos causales (modelo de estabilidad, de causalidad normal, de causalidad inversa y modelo recíproco). La muestra estuvo compuesta por 286 empleados de dos empresas de Madrid, y se empleó un intervalo temporal de un año. Los resultados de los modelos de ecuaciones estructurales mostraron que el modelo recíproco fue el que mejor ajuste presentaba. Se encontró que la sobrecarga T1 se relacionaba positivamente con ser víctima de acoso T2, mientras que la justicia procedimental presentaba una relación negativa con ser víctima de acoso T2. Se halló un efecto inverso entre ser víctima de acoso T1 y la sobrecarga T2. Además, se encontró una relación recíproca entre ser agresor y víctima de acoso. En general, estos resultados enfatizan la necesidad de extender los modelos causales tradicionales del acoso hacia enfoques más dinámicos (AU)

The aim of this study was to explore longitudinal relationships between organizational factors (workload and procedural justice) and targets and perpetrators of workplace bullying. We compared several causal models (baseline or stability, normal, reversed and reciprocal models). The sample comprised 286 employees from two companies in Madrid, and we used a time-lag of one year. Results of structural equation modeling analyses showed that reciprocal model fi t the data the best. We found that T1 workload was related positively to T2 target of bullying, and T1 procedural justice was related negatively to T2 target of bullying. There was a significant reverse effect of T1 target of bullying on T2 workload. Furthermore, we found a reciprocal relationship between being the target and the perpetrator of bullying. Overall, these findings emphasize the need to extend the traditional causal models of workplace bullying to more dynamic approaches (AU)