Victim-Focused Research: Older Adult Abuse, Neglect, and Financial Exploitation

• In Event: New Advancements in Research on the Links between Age, Crime & Victimization

Abstract

Despite recent research pointing to the serious criminal justice problem of abuse, neglect, and financial exploitation of older adults, the field knows relatively little about risk factors. Abuse in the older adult years can occur at the nexus of multiple oppressions, such as age, ethnicity, and poverty. With conservative estimates suggesting that more than 10% of older adults have experienced maltreatment and that financial exploitation costs billions of dollars annually, research on risk factors is urgently needed to guide federal and local policy/practice. This paper describes a collaboration between researchers and an interdisciplinary coalition of legal, adult protective services, intimate partner violence, and senior service agencies to identify risk factors for abuse, neglect, and financial exploitation in a diverse sample of older adults. Participants included 99 adults (age 60 and older; majority female, widowed, African American) recruited in a larger urban center. During in-home interviews, risk factors assessed included previous violence exposure, cognitive capacity, physical and functional dependence and social support. The current paper describes associations in this cross-sectional study between risk factors and older adult reports of recent exposure to abuse, neglect, and financial exploitation. Implications for policy and practice as well as future longitudinal research will be discussed.

Authors

• Anne P. DePrince, University of Denver

• Leslie Hasche, University of Denver