Coping with stalking and harassment victimization: Exploring the coping approaches of young male and female adults in Hong Kong

Purpose

Most stalking studies have been conducted on Western samples. Little is known about victims of stalking and harassment outside the Western Hemisphere generally, and victim coping approaches have so far gone unexamined within populations of Asian victims.

Methods

Using a sample of 198 self-reported victims of stalking or harassment drawn from a large sample of university students (N = 2,496) aged between 18 and 40, this study explores the incidence of these phenomena and the gendered distribution of different coping methods (i.e., avoidant, proactive, passive, compliance, and aggressive).

Results

A total of 7.9% of respondents reported experience of stalking or harassment in their lifetime, and the incidence of various stalking behaviours is reported. In general, passive (or moving away) and avoidant (or moving inward) approaches were the most frequently reported victim coping approaches, while compliance (or moving towards or with) was the least employed coping strategy. Males were considerably more likely than females to employ compliance and aggressive coping strategies. Multivariate analyses indicate that females were less likely to adopt a proactive coping approach, while all victims were more likely to employ the aggressive, proactive, and compliance approaches if they had been targeted for more than a month.

Conclusions

These findings show that experiences of stalking or harassment were not uncommon among the sample and that the type of victim coping approach was in part influenced by victim demographics and by stalking dynamics.