Gender Differences in Cyberstalking: The Roles of Risk, Control, and Opportunity Factors in Social Media

This study empirically tests explanatory factors for cyberstalking on social networking services (SNS), especially focusing on gender differences in the effects of risk, control, and opportunity factors. In this study, we used lack of attachment and denial of victim as risk factors, morality and self-control as control factors, and anonymity as an opportunity factor. We predicted that the main risk effect for cyberstalking and the interaction effect between risk and control factors and between risk and opportunity factors can be differentiated by gender. It is hypothesized that the effects of lack of attachment and denial of victim as risk factors for cyberstalking would differ by gender. Furthermore, in the context of risk factors, we predicted that the moderating effect of the control factor would be greater for women, and the effect of the opportunity factor, such as anonymity, would be greater for men. The results of the analysis of cross-sectional data from 270 SNS using college students in Seoul, South Korea, generally supported the hypotheses. As a risk factor, the influence of lack of attachment was greater for men, while denial of victim was greater for women. The moderating effects of the control factors were greater for women in such a way that the interaction between denial of victim and morality was significant for women; while the moderating effect of the opportunity factor was greater for men in such a way that the interaction between lack of attachment and anonymity was more significant for men. This study finds that the risk factors of cyberstalking and the respective moderating effects of control and opportunity factors can be differentiated according to gender.