Elder Mistreatment in the United States

By Theresa Sangram

A new study concludes that nearly 13 percent of America’s older adults suffer some form of abuse. The research was conducted by a team at the University of Chicago. The National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project is the first population-based, nationally representative study to ask older adults about their recent experience of mistreatment.

In this study, community-residing participants aged 57 to 85 were selected using a multistage area probability design. Of those eligible, 3,005 participated in the study, for a weighted response rate of 75.5%. Respondents were asked if, in the past year, they had experienced mistreatment in the following domains: verbal, financial, or physical. Those who reported mistreatment were asked about their relationship to the person responsible. The study found that 9% of adults reported they have suffered from verbal mistreatment, 3.5% suffer financial mistreatment, and 0.2% suffer physical mistreatment.

Researchers found that females were nearly twice as likely to report verbal mistreatment than men while financial mistreatment reportages were consistent; Latinos were about half as likely as Caucasians to report verbal mistreatment and 78% less likely to report financial mistreatment; and African Americans were 77% more likely to report financial mistreatment than Caucasians.

Most older adults reported that the mistreatment was perpetrated by someone other than a member of their immediate family. Of those who reported verbal mistreatment, 26% identified their spouse or romantic partner as the person responsible while 15% said their child verbally mistreated them, 57% said that the guilty party was someone other than a spouse, parent, or child.

A total of 56% of those who reported financial mistreatment said that someone other than a member of their family was responsible. Of family members, children were mentioned most often, and spouses rarely. Ex-spouses, in-laws, and siblings were all identified by some respondents as those responsible for mistreatment.

With the growth of older populations, we need to understand the extent to which those living with chronic conditions are being mistreated, with future research addressing the forms and consequences.

Source: Edward Laumann, Sara Leitsch, and Linda Waite. 2008. Elder mistreatment in the U.S.: Prevalence Estimates from a Nationally Representative Study. The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological and Social Sciences 63:S248-S254.

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