This paper entails a comparative study between a country that has criminalized stalking for almost three decades (the U.S.) and a nation that just recently outlawed the phenomenon (Spain). Employing a sample of American and Spanish university students, we examined the prevalence and types of stalking behaviors and victims’ emotional responses to their victimization. We also explored whether experiencing a particular category of stalking behaviors (i.e., surveillance and approach stalking) triggers specific emotional responses similarly among American and Spanish victims. We found more than two-thirds (36%) of the Spanish students (n = 638) and almost half (48%) of the American students (n = 411) reported that they have experienced the unwanted or intrusive behaviors included in our study. We also found relative to Spanish victims, American victims were significantly more likely to encounter approach stalking and report feeling anxious, angry, depressed, sick, and suicidal as a result of their victimization. Implications of our findings and directions for future research are discussed.

本文需要对一个将跟踪跟踪定为刑事犯罪近 30 年的国家（美国）和一个最近才取缔这种现象的国家（西班牙）进行比较研究。我们以美国和西班牙的大学生为样本，研究了跟踪行为的普遍性和类型以及受害者对其受害的情绪反应。我们还探讨了经历特定类别的跟踪行为（即监视和接近跟踪）是否会在美国和西班牙的受害者中引发类似的特定情绪反应。我们发现超过三分之二 (36%) 的西班牙学生 ( n  = 638) 和几乎一半 (48%) 的美国学生 ( n = 411) 报告说他们经历了我们研究中包含的不受欢迎或侵入性行为。我们还发现，相对于西班牙受害者，美国受害者更有可能遭遇接近跟踪，并报告说他们因受害而感到焦虑、愤怒、沮丧、生病和自杀。讨论了我们的研究结果的含义和未来研究的方向。