States of Mind With Respect to Adult Attachment and Reflective Functioning in a Sample of Men Detained for Stalking: Evaluation and Clinical Implications

Cristina Civilotti, Chiara Sciascia, Maria Zaccagnino, Antonella Varetto and Daniela Acquadro Maran

SAGE Open, 2020, vol. 10, issue 4, 2158244020962820

Abstract: The efficacy of treatment for stalkers might depend on identifying peculiarities in the life stories of members of this population and their specific needs. We interviewed 14 Italian male stalkers between 27 and 78 years old ( M = 44.5 years) detained in two northwest Italian correctional facilities. We aimed to investigate two main aspects: First, we evaluated the subjects’ states of mind (SoMs) with respect to early attachment using the Adult Attachment Interview. Second, we assessed the possible recurrence of narrative clusters between the narratives of these offenders, whom we also interviewed about their persecutory acts, using the Index Offense Interview. The results indicated that the vast majority of the stalkers in our sample had a dismissing SoM with respect to their early attachment, as well as many unresolved traumas. Furthermore, by comparing their narratives, we outlined six narrative themes: (a) the perception of rejection as a main motivational factor, (b) the representation of the self as right and as a victim of others’ behaviors, (c) a lack of impulse control, (d) the idealization of attachment figures, (e) intense separation anxiety, and (f) a personal theory about stalking. Given this population’s high recurrence rates following detention, the study of which adult attachment representations are linked with the stalking phenomenon and which critical themes are present in stalkers’ narratives may improve clinical interventions for this specific population.

Keywords: stalking; prison; adult attachment; narrative clusters; criminal psychology (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2158244020962820 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:sagope:v:10:y:2020:i:4:p:2158244020962820

DOI: 10.1177/2158244020962820

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in SAGE Open
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().