UNSEEN PURSUITS: THE INTERPLAY OF CYBERSTALKING, OBSESSIVE RELATIONAL INTRUSION, AND PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTRESS IN FACEBOOK USERS

Abstract

The present study aimed to assess the relationship between cyber stalking, obsessive relational intrusion and psychological distress in youth using Facebook. It was hypothesized that cyberstalking and obsessive relational intrusion would be positively related with and predicted psychological distress. Moreover, there would be significant gender differences across the study variables. Employing a cross-sectional correlational design, a sample of 150 university students was recruited through non-probability convenient sampling (including n = 75 men, n = 75 women; M_age = 18.89, SD_age = 1.60). Observing APA-mandated guidelines, responses were collected from participants on the Cyber-Obsessional Pursuit Questionnaire (Spitzberg & Hoobler, 2002), the Obsessive Relational Intrusion Short Form (Spitzberg & Cupach, 2004) and the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (Kessler, 2002; Andrews & Slade, 2001). Results indicated that both cyberstalking and obsessive relational intrusion had significant positive relationship with psychological distress as well as significantly predicted it. Also, women scored higher on all the three study variables, indicating significant gender differences. These findings will facilitate the research directions in the field of cyber-psychology.