Miclat, Paula Mae T.

2013-48823
Speech 135 TWX
Journal Article Review: Interpersonal Relationship and Stalking
The clarification that the article, Interpersonal Relationships and Stalking:
Identifying When to Intervene, addressed is how to distinguish social interactions
that are within the accepted behavior and those that are perceived as stalking by
the community. It aims to identify the influence of showing explicit intent,
persistence, and gender in the communitys perception of illegality in stalking. The
communitys perception of response to the situation and penalties to these possible
cases are also taken into account. This study is also conducted to have a clearer
interpretation and assumption in relation with stalking legislation.
The study is quantitative in nature. It used two methods to choose
participants. Brisbane metropolitan electoral rolls were utilized to randomly select
participants. They were reminded through a letter a week after the research
packages were posted. The researchers also recruited members from two
Universities in Australia. Research packages were distributed to students and their
parents. The questionnaires required roughly 30 minutes to be completed.
Participants were given a paragraph that depicted a post-break up scenario of
a heterosexual couple. In the situation, there is an actor and victim. The participants
were requested to take a role of either of the two or merely an observer. In turn, the
sex of the actor and victim depends on the participants sex and the role s/he is
taking on. For example, if the female participant is taking on the role of the victim,
the actor would be assumed as a male.
In order to test whether the actors explicit intent towards the victim affects
the perception of considering an act as stalking, the paragraphs varied to having
included explicit evidence of intent and no explicit evidence of intent. The
paragraph also varied by narrating from having one to several contact of the actor

to the victim to test if the persistence of the actor affects the perception of
considering an act as stalking.
It was stated in the results that, When explicit intent was present, 33% of
participants said that the behaviour was illegal, compared to only 3% when explicit
evidence of intent was absent. While 21% thought behaviour was illegal in the
repeat episode condition, compared with 16% in the single episode condition.
Considering gender as a factor, males were more likely to identify the behaviour as
stalking when they read the scenario depicting a male actor and a female victim
than were females when they received a same scenario.
The perceived appropriate response to the action also differs. Males are more
likely to tell themselves that the scenario is part of the relationship. Females, on the
other hand, are more likely to consult and share with family and friends. Given that
20% of the participants considered the scenario illegal when the evidence is explicit,
the following were the perceived appropriate penalties: pay a fine, community
service, suspended sentence, and prison sentence.
The study gives emphasis on the subjectivity of what is legal and illegal. It
focused on the idea that the people construct our own reality by defining terms and
concepts around us. The idea of stalking is also relative from person to person.
There are a lot of factors to consider when legislators make a law about stalking.
People should first agree about the definition of stalking because in this article
alone, there are several definitions of stalking presented. The study took a step
forward by researching about what constitutes illegal stalking to the community.
Persistence, intent, and gender were considered in defining what is illegal.
These maybe the obvious factors that directly influence the idea of illegality and
stalking within the community but there are only 20% who considered the act illegal
and under the condition that the intent is even explicit. Some factors maybe present
but were not taken into account. Which gave the researcher an unexpectedly low

numbers because they are making a law to protect people from stalkers but not
even half of the community thinks it is illegal.
Other factors maybe should be considered in studying the illegality of
stalking. There is always individual differences in each cases because the
relationship is interpersonal and unique for each situation thus, making a law that is
encompassing even for a specific community is difficult. Cultural and individual
differences should always be taken into account.