assessing the link between stalking and domestic violence.pdf

Aggression and Violent Behavior 6 (2001) 519–546 Assessing the link between stalking and domestic violence Kevin S. Douglasa,1, Donald G. Duttonb, * aDepartment of Psychology and Mental Health, Law, and Policy Institute, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada V5A 1S6 bDepartment of Psychology, University of British Columbia, 2136 West Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada V6T IZ4 Received 20 September 1999; received in revised form 2 December 1999; accepted 28 January 2000 Abstract Stalking may be defined as repeated following, communicating, and contacting a person in a threatening manner that causes the person to fear, on a reasonable basis, for his or her safety. Stalking is a recent legal construct, and social scientific research on stalking is in an early stage. Given that the most common victim of stalking is an ex-intimate partner, there may be an association between stalking and domestic violence. This paper evaluates this potential link. Specifically, the literature on stalking is reviewed by means of comparing it to existing literature on typologies of domestically violent persons. It is proposed that most stalkers who target ex-intimate partners are character- ologically similar to a type of batterer labeled ‘‘borderline/cyclical.’’ Both domestic stalkers and borderline/cyclical batterers possess traits of Cluster B personality disorders. These traits include emotional volatility, attachment dysfunction, primitive defenses, weak ego strength, jealousy, anger, substance abuse, and early childhood trauma. Further, both groups have been observed to react with rage to perceived or actual r