New study finds elders living alone with abuser more likely to endure severe mistreatment

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-03/uot-nsf030316.php

Public Release: 3-Mar-2016
New study finds elders living alone with abuser more likely to endure severe mistreatment
Other findings: Non-perpetrators in the home act as a buffer and 'youngest old' experience most severe forms of abuse
University of Toronto

A new study examining elder abuse--released today by researchers at the University of Toronto, Cornell University, and Weill-Cornell Medical College--has found that older adult victims living alone with their abuser were up to four times more likely to endure more severe levels of mistreatment. The study suggests that the addition of non-perpetrators also living in the home played a protective function to buffer severity.

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Research on older adults tends to categorize subjects according to different age groups, including the 'youngest old' (ages 60 to 74) and the 'oldest old' (ages 85 and up). One surprising finding was that across each type of elder abuse, it was the 'youngest old' who experienced the most severe forms of mistreatment.

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"Previous studies on elder abuse have found that approximately one in ten older adults experience some form of elder abuse," says lead author Dr. David Burnes, an assistant professor with the University of Toronto's Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work. "As the population of older adults in North America nearly doubles over the next 25 years, this problem will just get bigger. Older adults who are abused have shorter lifespans, and are more likely to be hospitalized and experience mental health issues."

Previous studies have largely explored elder abuse in general yes/no terms, but this study examined different forms of elder abuse along a continuum of severity. "We know that the yes/no characterization of elder abuse does not capture the complex, lived reality of mistreatment or align with the way clinicians examine and intervene on the problem," says the University of Toronto's Dr. David Burnes.

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