Cheers!
Posted on 08/06/2011 1:27:51 PM PDT by decimon
Psychologists examine disturbing trends, offer tips on coping
WASHINGTON – People who are cyberstalked or harassed online experience higher levels of stress and trauma than people who are stalked or harassed in person, according to a presentation at the American Psychological Association's 119th Annual Convention.
"Increasingly, stalkers use modern technology to monitor and torment their victims, and one in four victims report some form of cyberstalking, such as threatening emails or instant messaging," said Elizabeth Carll, PhD, in a talk entitled, "Electronic Harassment and Cyberstalking: Intervention, Prevention and Public Policy."
Emotional responses to the stress and trauma experienced by victims may include high levels of ongoing stress, anxiety, fear, nightmares, shock and disbelief, helplessness, hyper-vigilance, changes in eating, and sleeping difficulties, Carll said.
"It is my observation that the symptoms related to cyberstalking and e-harassment may be more intense than in-person harassment, as the impact is more devastating due to the 24/7 nature of online communication, inability to escape to a safe place, and global access of the information," Carll said.
U.S. Department of Justice statistics reveal that some 850,000 adults, the majority female, are targets of cyberstalking each year, according to Carll. Citing various other sources, she gave examples of the pervasiveness, including:
40 percent of women have experienced dating violence via social media, which can include harassing text messages and disturbing information about them posted on social media sites.
20 percent of online stalkers use social networking to stalk their victims.
34 percent of female college students and 14 percent of male students have broken into a romantic partner's email.
"The same technologies used to harass can also be used to intervene and prevent harassment," she said, adding that some states are considering mandating the use of GPS tracking devices on offenders to allow victims to keep tabs on them.
"Imagine a cell phone application that can tell you if someone threatening you is nearby," Carll said. "That could be life-saving."
Law enforcement, legal assistance and other social service providers need training to use direct and electronic methods to intervene and prevent electronic harassment, and victims need training in the safe use of technology, she said.
In another session Friday, researchers released results of a study that found 36 percent of students had been cyberbullied at least once in the past year.
Researchers examined data collected in 2009 from 1,112 students, ages 12 to 19, 405 female, from schools in Seoul and the Keonggi area of South Korea. Of these, 225 were in elementary school, 678 in middle school and 209 in high school. The students completed a questionnaire about their cyberbullying experiences, self-esteem and how they regulate their emotions.
"The results revealed that cyberbullying makes students socially anxious, lonely, frustrated, sad and helpless," said presenter YeoJu Chung, PhD, of South Korea's Kyungil University.
The research explored how adolescents emotionally deal with cyberbullying. Students who said they ruminated, or obsessed, about the negative event were more likely to suffer serious stress from cyberbullying. In addition, people who blamed themselves for the situation were more likely to ruminate. Students who refocused on positive thoughts were able to cope and recover more quickly, according to the study.
Students reported that they were more negatively affected by cyberbullying when it was anonymous and in "one-sided sites such as blogs and cyber boards." The research also showed that students who are victims of cyberbullying will often subsequently bully others online.
"Lots of adolescents have trouble recovering from negative effects of cyberbullying," said Chung. "We can help them use emotion regulation skills to recover, rather than become bullies themselves."
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Symposium: "News and Social Media – Tools for Social Change," Session: 3095, 9:00 to 10:50 a.m., Saturday, Aug. 6, Walter E. Washington Convention Center, Street Level, Room 152A.
Presentation: "Electronic Harassment and Cyberstalking: Intervention, Prevention, and Public Policy," Elizabeth Carll, PhD, chair, News Media, Public Education, Public Policy Committee, APA Media Psychology Division.
Dr. Elizabeth Carll can be contacted at 917-941-5400 (cell); 631-754-2424 (office); drcarll@optonline.net
Poster session: "Individual Differences and Mental Health Adjustment, Session," Session: 2292, 3:00 to 3:50 p.m., Friday, Aug. 5, Walter E. Washington Convention Center, Halls D and E, Level Two.
Presentation: "Effect of Emotion Regulation for Cyberbullied Adolescents: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach," Yeo Ju Chung, PhD, Dongil Kim, PhD, and Youngseok Seo, PhD, Kyungil University, South Korea
Dr. Yeo Ju Chung can be contacted at 82-10-7303-0916 (cell); peaceinj@snu.ac.kr
The American Psychological Association, in Washington, D.C., is the largest scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United States and is the world's largest association of psychologists. APA's membership includes more than 154,000 researchers, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. Through its divisions in 54 subfields of psychology and affiliations with 60 state, territorial and Canadian provincial associations, APA works to advance psychology as a science, as a profession and as a means of promoting health, education and human welfare.
Ping
Then you better be wearing shades.
Here’s an idea, how about deleting your facebook account and not telling the world where you’re going this evening and what you’re wearing. It wouldn’t hurt to turn off your cellphone gps so the stalker doesn’t know where you are. When people put out so much personal information, they’re only making matters worse.
You flame? ;-)
Here’s an idea, how about deleting your facebook account and not telling the world where you’re going this evening and what you’re wearing. It wouldn’t hurt to turn off your cellphone gps so the stalker doesn’t know where you are. When people put out so much personal information, they’re only making matters worse.
I agree. Maybe Facebook makes people feel like celebrities.
For an organization that attempted to legalize pedophilia, I have trouble taking them seriously on other issues.
Cheers!
Hey, you opened my webcam. The shades warning was there to protect your eyes from my most awesome hotness!
It amazes me how even the not so young are constantly tweeting and texting 24/7 with every little thought or movement they make. Truth be told, there should probably be more stalkers out there but they’re too busy tweeting about their own miserable non-interesting lives.
I don't see that anywhere. Have you a citation?
Sorry for you. I am sitting here in my underwear.
Agreed. Unfortunately, most people don’t understand the technology and what it can do, what their legal rights are, etc.
For example, everything we post here at FR is recorded. ;)
States have begun to address the use of computer equipment for stalking purposes by including provisions prohibiting such activity in both harassment and anti-stalking legislation. A handful of states, such as Alabama, Arizona, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, New Hampshire and New York have specifically including prohibitions against harassing electronic, computer or e-mail communications in their harassment legislation.
Also, some states have both stalking and harassment statutes that criminalize threatening and unwanted electronic communications.
Many states may already address this issue by making it a crime to communicate by any means with the intent to harass or alarm the victim. I would say repeated unwanted messages or emails falls into this harassment category, especially if you ask someone to stop contacting you electronically, or by any means, and they do not.
“For an organization that attempted to legalize pedophilia...
I don’t see that anywhere. Have you a citation?”
Understandable, considering that the MSM keeps it embargoed.
http://pedophileophobia.com/disorder.htm
“In a step critics charge could result in decriminalizing...”
IOW, they did not call for legalization.
““In a step critics charge could result in decriminalizing...””
“IOW, they did not call for legalization.”
Close enough for me. Sorry if I got into a sensitive area.
That's grade school level.
“That’s grade school level.”
Grade school, ehhh.
Having been stalked, I call bull excrement. How in the world is having nasty grams left on your facebook page, or even threatening text messages worse than harassing phone calls, or having waking up to find someone staring at you?
Electronic harassment may be disturbing, but electronic devices can be turned off. Being physically stalked means you must be constantly aware of your surroundings, and must plan each move to make sure it won’t put yourself in danger. It means losing the freedom to do what you want, when you want. It means having to evaluate everyone around you to determine if they’re the stalker. It means going to sleep at night wondering what might happen after you close your eyes. It means having to consciously not have habits or patterns of behavior that could be exploited. It means always having to listen for odd noises, and when heard having to evaluate what the noise might be. It means not knowing when you’re going to turn a corner in the grocery store, look up from the gas pump, or glance out the window and find yourself in the sites of your stalker. It means “home” isn’t safe anymore, to say nothing of your yard or neighborhood or car.
Upsetting messages on electronic devices? Oh, please.
It may be that most physical stalking is not as dramatic as your experience. Guess that depends on what is considered stalking.
[e]motional responses to the stress and trauma...includ[ing] high levels of ongoing stress, anxiety, fear, nightmares, shock and disbelief, helplessness, hyper-vigilance, changes in eating, and sleeping difficulties
strikes me as hyper-sensitive, especially when the article says people are most troubled when the "attacks" are anonymous. People being nasty in a blog can cause hyper-vigilance? Really? That's pathetic. How are these people dealing with the normal conflicts that are part life if some unknown person saying something mean about them on-line throws them into such distress?
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