Overall, women were more likely to have experienced an episode of stalking than men. Where a person had experienced stalking by a male and stalking by a female, they are counted separately for stalking by a male and by a female, but are only counted once in the aggregated total.
Where a person had experienced an episode of stalking, further information was collected about their most recent episode of stalking by a male and their most recent episode of stalking by a female. To be classified as stalking more than one type of behaviour had to occur, or the same type of behaviour had to occur on more than one occasion. Stalking involves various behaviours, such as loitering and following, which the respondent believed were being undertaken with the intent to harm or frighten them. The 2012 PSS collected information from men and women aged 18 years and over about their experience of stalking.
