2nd Edition
The Dark Side of Relationship Pursuit From Attraction to Obsession and Stalking
Awards and Praise for the first edition:
- Recipient of the 2006 International Association for Relationship Research (IARR) Book Award
"This text, as it presently stands, is THE go-to text for stalking researchers. That is my opinion and the opinion of multiple fellow scholars I know in the field. It rarely sits on my shelf, but rather is a constant reference on my desk. I can always count on these authors to have done an extensive review of literature. I thought I was thorough, but they are always providing me with new references."
--Dr. H. Colleen Sinclair, Associate Professor of Psychology, Mississippi State University
"Cupach and Spitzberg provide the reader with a multidisciplinary framework for understanding the nature and impact of unwanted relationship pursuits. This book is an excellent resource for students and professionals alike who seek to gain knowledge about unwanted relational pursuits and stalking."
—Journal of Couple & Relationship Therapy
The Dark Side of Relationship Pursuit provides historical and definitional frames for studying unwanted relationship pursuit, and considers the role of the media, law, and social science research in shaping today’s conceptualizations of stalking. The volume integrates research from diverse contributing fields and disciplines, providing a thorough summary and assessment of current knowledge on stalking and obsessive pursuit.
Building on the foundation of the award-winning first edition, this revision considers assessment issues, offers an expanded analysis of the meta-analysis data set, and includes coverage of intercultural and international factors. As an increasing number of scholarly disciplines and professional fields study stalking and other forms of obsessive relationship pursuit, this book is a must-have resource for examining interpersonal conflict, social and personal relationships, domestic violence, unrequited love, divorce and relational dissolution, and harassment. It also has much to offer researchers, counselors, and professionals in psychology, counseling, criminal justice, sociology, psychiatry, forensic evaluation, threat assessment, and law enforcement.
Biography
Brian H. Spitzberg is Senate Distinguished Professor in the School of Communication at San Diego State University. His primary areas of research involve interpersonal communication skills, jealousy, conflict, coercion, violence, and stalking.
William R. Cupach is Professor Emeritus in the School of Communication at Illinois State University. His research pertains to problematic interactions in interpersonal relationships, including such contexts as embarrassing predicaments, relational transgressions, interpersonal conflict, social and relational aggression, obsessive relational pursuit, and stalking.
Winner, the 2015 Gerald R. Miller Book Award, presented by NCA’s Interpersonal Communication Division.
"The authors cast such a broad yet detailed net over their topic that I was able to immediately begin using the text in my own works on intimate partner violence, relationship intrusion, and former-partner stalking...I also plan to incorporate various sections of this text into my undergraduate interpersonal, abuse, gender, family, and sex courses. Spitzberg and Cupach comprehensively present ORI/stalking and then contextualize and apply their discussions in ways that victims, practitioners, scholars, and students will easily understand, and more importantly, can use.”
—Jessica J. Eckstein, Western Connecticut State University, in Relationship Research News"This is an impressive endeavor that offers the most systematic and comprehensive review of the stalking literature that is currently available … It will definitely be an invaluable resource for scholars of stalking research."and more importantly, can use.”
—Psychology of Women Quarterly Journal"Motivated and interested students and academics will find it worth persevering with as its comprehensive appraisal of the current literature makes it an invaluable reference in the field of stalking...As well as summarizing the general findings so far, [the authors] are fair in pointing out the weaknesses, assumptions and gaps in the literature and, importantly, valuable directions for research in the future.”
"...this work offers an outstanding summary and overview of relationship formation and provides constructive information regarding unwanted pursuit. The authors integrate information and research from a variety of disciplines, including psychology, criminal justice, sociology, and social work to help expand on the knowledge base currently available."
—Rhys Davies, Imperial College London, UK, in International Journal of Social Psychiatry
—PsycINFO"...provides a thorough context for understanding and treating stalking behavior, including a focus on both victim and perpetrator."
—Psychotherapy"In this book, Cupach and Spitzer provide the reader with a multidisciplinary framework for understanding the nature and impact of unwanted relationship pursuits. This book is an excellent resource for students and professionals alike who seek to gain knowledge about unwanted relational pursuits and stalking."
—Journal of Couple & Relationship"This one of the most comprehensive and useful texts to be found on [obsessive relational intrusion (ORI) and stalking] constructs … There are myriad reasons to not only read it, but to add it to one’s library. The authors have given particular attention to all stalking/ORI research right up to the 2014 publication date, which makes it truly useful-for-researchers and advanced students of “relational dark side” literature.”
—IARR - Relationship Research News“This particular text shows the authors excel – more so than many who write on these topics – in presenting almost all of the pertinent information a stalking/ORI literature-novice needs to understand the subfield … Overall, I found this text to be an impressive contribution to the area/s of ORI/stalking.”
—IARR - Relationship Research News"The first edition of the book The Dark Side of Relationship Pursuit: From Attraction to Obsession and Stalking by Brian Spitzberg and William Cupach (2004) is a staple of stalking researchers and this second edition will be even more of a necessary resource… Spitzberg and Cupach succeed in the challenging attempt to tell the story of stalking, with disjunctive relational goals, negotiation of romantic interest, determining rejection, and decisions about why, when, and how to pursue targets.”
—Sex Roles
