Establishing the reliability and validity of the Stalking Myth Scale - revised

• Main Author: Howell, Amanda Lee
• Other Authors: H. Colleen Sinclair, Kristina B. Hood, Mitchell Berman
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: MSSTATE 2013
• Subjects: Psychology; Sinclair; Spitzberg
• Online Access: http://sun.library.msstate.edu/ETD-db/theses/available/etd-10302013-114652/

Misconceptions about intimate aggression have been found to have serious consequences (Kamphius et al., 2005; Robinson, 2005). These beliefs serve to minimize the crime and blame the victim which can cause individuals to not take the crime seriously (Kamphius, et al., 2005; Sinclair, in press). Initial work combined and updated Sinclair's (2010) Stalking Myths Scale and McKeon's unpublished Stalking Attitudes Questionnaire, but further psychometric analysis is needed (Lyndon, Sinclair, & Martin, 2011). I surveyed 1,200 undergraduates using the Stalking Myth Scale Revised (SMS R), a modified version of the Obsessive Relational Intrusion Inventory Short Form (ORI - SF; Cupach & Spitzberg, 2004), and three intimate partner aggression myth scales. My findings replicated the factor structure of the previous pilot and attitudes regarding stalking were found to be predictors of the likelihood to engage in, the perceived normativity of, and the perceived motivation behind stalking.