Stalking Victimization in the Context of Intimate Partner Violence

This article is one of the first to extensively compare characteristics of women who do and do not report stalking by a violent partner or ex-partner using a large sample of women with civil protective orders. Specifically, the purpose of this study was to examine similarities and differences in relationship and victimization history characteristics, mental health symptoms, help-seeking, and protective order violations for women who report being stalked in the past year (n = 345) by the partner they received a protective order against compared to women who received a protective order against a violent partner but who report no stalking by that partner ever in the relationship (n = 412). Results indicate that women who report partner stalking have more severe partner violence victimization, histories, increased distress, greater fear, and more protective order violations, suggesting that partner stalking victimization warrants more research and practice attention.