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.