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From Aging Wiki 17

Revision as of 18:25, 31 October 2011

Group #17

• 1. Kayla Sooley
• 2. Adam Jolin
• 3. Tom Jakobs

Elder Abuse Risk Factors

Gender and Elder Abuse

Most people believe that elder abuse occurs more commonly to elderly women by a younger male but the truth is that both men and women are both equally likely to be victims of elder abuse and anyone is capable of elder abuse^[1]. These gender biases have not been examined very often but are important in understanding elder abuse and implementing policies to stop elder abuse.

Victim and Gender

Men and women are both equally as likely to become victims of elder abuse but differ in what form of elder abuse is usually perpetrated against them. Men are more frequently abused financially and are more likely to be abandoned and neglected^[2][3] while women are more likely sexually abused^[4]. Research suggests that men are frequently financially abused because elder males usually have more money and resources than older women^{[5] [3]}. Another piece of research suggests that men are more susceptible to financial abuse because males tend to feel lonelier and are drawn to any attachment that comes along^[5]. Men also tend to be a greater risk for financial abuse because men tend to be living with their spouse and children, which allows a greater opportunity for the abuse to occur compared to women who usually are widowed and living alone^[6][4]

It is less common to hear about an elderly male being abused than an elderly female. This occurs for two reasons:

• 1) gender stereotypes and biases that are built into our society cause people to perceive male abuse less serious than female abuse
• 2) men generally do not see the doctor as often as females which causes reporting by general practitioners harder to do.

In most Western societies today men are supposed to be the tough providers, while women are seen as weak and submissive. When a male does report that he is being abused many professionals do not take the claim seriously especially when the perpetrator is a female as elder abuse is commonly seen as a woman’s problem^[2] and men should be able to take care of themselves. Males also hold these biases and stereotypes towards themselves and are usually too afraid to speak out about the abuse that is happening to them because they believe people will see them as weak and feminine. Males and females also talk about abuse differently as a result of gender stereotypes. Since women often see their doctor more frequently^[2] they tend to be more comfortable with their doctor and better able to discuss any abuse that may be going on^[7]. Elder abuse has a greater chance of being detected in women by the general practitioner since the doctor will see the patient more frequently than a male^[2]

Perpetrator and Gender

Many people believe that males are more violent and aggressive than females in committing elder abuse. Females are generally expected to be nurturing and the caretakers of an aging relative or to be working in a home as a caretaker while men are supposed to be aggressive^[8]. Recent research shows that males and females both commit aggressive acts equally but the aggressive acts differ between male and female perpetrators^[1].General practitioners and social workers tend to believe that perpetrators are usually male than female and are less likely to detect any abuse that may be occurring when the stereotypical gender roles are violated, which leads to an under recognition of female perpetrators^[1]. Gender bias can also be seen in the courtroom when elder abuse is going to trial. Generally, females are more likely to believe a victim and convict guilty than a male would^[9]. Women are also seen as more nurturing and are socialized to be on the lookout for criminals and “bad guys”, it is suspected that this socialization may cause women to identify with the victim more often which leads to more guilty verdicts of elder abuse. It is suspected that men do not convict the defendant as often because they may be more forgiving to aggressive actions especially when the perpetrator is male since men are supposed to be more aggressive in a Western society^[9].

Implications

Gender is an important factor to consider when discussing elder abuse or creating and implementing policies regarding elder abuse. Police, enforcement agencies and social workers should be made aware that female abusers of elders is not an unusual occurrence but is rather fairly typical, especially in the family home^[8]. This new awareness may allow a greater detection of elder abuse by female perpetrators, especially male abuse by a female perpetrator. A standardized policy should be implemented that allows for the same consequences for all cases of elder abuse since social workers are more likely to implement serious formal actions if the perpetrator is male and the victim is female. The attitude that males should have taken care of themselves causes many problems and usually leads to little actions taken by authority figures. The failure to take action by many social workers causes males to be continued to be abused and leads to males’ reluctance to disclose any future abuse or mistreatment that may occur^{[1] [3]}. It is important to educate everyone about gendered expectations and biases that may affect court decisions, decisions to proceed with formal actions, and generally the ability to detect and prevent elder abuse from occurring. There should be a greater awareness that elder abuse does not always happen to females and that males are also likely targets of abuse especially financial. Elders themselves should also be educated in gender biases they may hold against themselves that may lead to a failure to disclose information about abuse and may cause males to believe they are immune from abuse. Both male and female elders should also be made aware of the types of abuse that may occur, who may perpetrate these crimes and what actions and services that may be out there for them. These preventive measures and simple education about gendered expectations should be included in training for doctors and social workers which may increase the ability for early detection of elder abuse of both males and females and allow for more serious formal actions to occur.

Mickey Rooney Speaks Out Against Elder Abuse

The following video depicts Mickey Rooney speaking out on elder abuse and encouraging all elders especially males to speak out about the mistreatment they experience after he himself was financially abused.

--Ks09bc 19:47, 24 October 2011 (EDT)

Cultural Impact on Elder Abuse

The following section will cover where race and culture fit into the problem of elder abuse. Topics addressed will include things like what minority groups or races may be reporting abuse, cross-cultural perceptions of elder abuse including how races rank the negativity of certain abuse over others and what cultures think is beneficial in dealing with abuse among others.

Who is Reporting Abuse?

To begin, research has pointed out that when comparing the ratio of minority groups to the general population, we can see that there is a substantial amount of abuse reports coming from groups such as African American and Hispanic minorities^[10]. In other words, consider if the population consisted of ten percent African Americans. One might suspect that the percentage of mistreatment reports by African Americans would reflect this ten percent of the population and be roughly the same. However, research points out that the percentage of these minorities reporting abuse is higher than their corresponding population size^[10] Therefore race may play an important role in the likelihood of elders reporting abuse.

Who is Likely to be Abused?

Second, the race of the victim may also help indicate who the elder is most likely abused by ^{[11] [12]}. Research shows that African American females are more likely to be abused by a family member instead of a spouse or ex spouse^{[11] [12][13]}. The difference in perpetrators between African American and other minorities may be due to the lower percentage of African American females with current spouses^[11]. Furthermore, African Americans also seemed to report less cases of sexual abuse than Caucasian and Hispanic populations^[11]. Maybe this is because the majority of abusers in these scenarios has been their family and did not consider this form of abuse acceptable. Despite these differences, individuals generally report similar levels of emotional abuse cross culturally compared to other forms ^[11]which may indicate a universal norm when considering elder mistreatment. To add, further research has identified that college students that were Caucasian Americans or Korean both agreed that the most prominent form of elder abuse amongst the two cultures was psychological abuse^[12]. In some cultures, individuals may view specific types of abuse as normal.We can see this in the literature showing that in some Latina minorities, females find it acceptable for a spouse to physically abuse them^[12]. It is interesting to see these significant differences and similarities cross-culturally in regards to elder abuse.

Perceptions:

Perceptions of elder abuse play an important role in identifying whether an act is considered mistreatment and can differ depending on race^{[10][12][14][13]}. When comparing Caucasian and Korean individuals who are abused, research found that when given hypothetical abuse scenarios, Korean youth viewed elder mistreatment as less abusive than other western cultures and that they rated it less severely across all types of abuse^[12][14]. Despite differences across cultures, most cultures studied (Japanese, Puerto Ricans, Caucasian and African Americans) viewed psychological abuse or neglect as the worse type of mistreatment when compared to others^[13]. Also, most groups displayed a significantly lower ranking of physical abuse when it came to what they viewed as the most negative treatment^[13].

Seeking Help/Support:

A victim’s cultural background may also contribute in the likelihood to seek help when comparing different racial groups^[10][12][14]. When considering this, what may cause these individual differences in reporting elder abuse? Past research suggests that since Korean cultures value the importance of family strength, harmony and interdependence, abuse victims may be reluctant to reveal family shame in order to stand along cultural norms^[12][14].

This image is from a news article where a Chinese woman is abused by her daughter. You can view the article here [1]

When comparing this to Caucasian Americans, who tend to report abuse more^[11], this may be due to Caucasian societies favoring individualistic norms that reflect ones own identity and self dependence.

To add, research also suggests that the need for emotional support in African American abuse cases is less prevalent than other races^[11][13]. The lack of emotional support needed among this culture may be a result of an increased importance of family relationships so that victims would already have had these emotional outlets^[11]. In other words, since they have high emotional support in families, they would show lower levels of stress associated with abuse. However, we can see similarities across African Americans, Japanese, and Caucasian victims that abuse victims generally seek help from informal causes such as family, friends, and church ministries instead of formal ones such as the police and social service workers^[14][13].

Problems with Looking at Elder Mistreatment Cross-Culturally:

What culture best categorizes or defines elder abuse? This is often really hard to identify^[12][14][13]. There are common beliefs when identifying certain types of abuse such as physical/violent maltreatment but other forms may be harder to agree on universally^[12][14][13]. There will always be conflict between cultures due to very different norms and beliefs. It is an interesting viewpoint and one may suggest that if a particular individual does not feel like they are a part of their own culture or of the larger population that they live amongst, these victims would be more likely to report abuse^[13]. To explain, if we consider the idea of bringing family shame as a negative quality in Asian cultures, an individual who does not feel a sense belonging in this culture will feel no need to conform to their norms. Overall it can be concluded that there are several similarities and differences across race and culture in regards to elder abuse.

Age and Health

The idea and knowledge of declining health with increasing age is an all to known commonality that all will experience in their lives as they age but the implications that both increasing age and declining health can have on safety in the later years in life is a less known topic. Increasing age and health implications, both cognitive and physical, have an effect on the safety of elders in their later years when they no longer have the ability to be independent and these two factors put them at a greater risk of abuse from care givers in both the family home setting and within care facilities.

Age and Health Related Risk Factors of the Elderly

It is a well known fact that with age comes a greater prevalence of diseases, disabilities and over all drastic declines in health, both cognitively and physically^[15]. Age of the victim have large implications on the frequency and severity of elder abuse, older adults report a higher frequency of abuse than younger respondents to psychological abuse and neglect as well as physical abuse ^[16]. As people age they begin to experience the effects of agism; the idea that older people are stigmatized and socially excluded on the basis of their age and the misconception that they are becoming a burden to society and their individual families, with a lack of ability to care for themselves ^[17]. Which can partially account for the increasing rates of mistreatment as age advances leaving individuals not only more reliant on their caregivers but also less able to defend them selves ^[18][19]. The role of health factors such as physical disability and disease also has large implications on rate of elder abuse, this can be attributed to the idea that the worse the impairment of an individual the more they will be relying on caregivers for help to simple day to day activities^[20]