RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Abnormal Attentions Toward The British Royal Family: Factors Associated With Approach and Escalation
JF Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law Online
JO J Am Acad Psychiatry Law
FD American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law
SP 329
OP 340
VO 38
IS 3
A1 David V. James
A1 J. Reid Meloy
A1 Paul E. Mullen
A1 Michele T. Pathé
A1 Frank R. Farnham
A1 Lulu F. Preston
A1 Brian J. Darnley
YR 2010
UL http://jaapl.org/content/38/3/329.abstract
AB Abnormal approach and escalation from communication to physical intrusion are central concerns in managing risk to prominent people. This study was a retrospective analysis of police files of those who have shown abnormal attentions toward the British Royal Family. Approach (n = 222), compared with communication only (n = 53), was significantly associated with specific factors, most notably serious mental illness and grandiosity. In a sample of those who engaged in abnormal communication (n = 132), those who approached (n = 79) were significantly more likely to evidence mental illness and grandiosity, to use multiple communications, to employ multiple means of communication, and to be driven by motivations that concerned a personal entitlement to the prominent individual. Logistic regression produced a model comprising grandiosity, multiple communications, and multiple means of communication, for which receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis gave an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.82. The implications of these findings are discussed in relation to those for other target groups.