A Life Course Perspective on the Mistreatment of Older Adults

• In Event: Victimization over the Life Course

Abstract

Research on elder abuse prevalence suggests that one in ten community-dwelling older adults experienced some form of abuse in the past year. Although precise estimates vary, there is broad consensus that abuse and neglect incidents are often perpetrated by family members such as adult children. Accordingly, several lines of research have developed that focus on the early family context, emphasizing the connections between such factors as early child abuse perpetrated by parents, and older parents’ own later victimization. Although scholars of the life course have highlighted the “mutually influential” and “interlocking” nature of parent-child relationships, few studies have captured the dynamic nature of these relationships across the full life course or their consequences for later-life mistreatment of older parents. In the current investigation, we draw on eight waves of data from the Toledo Adolescent Relationship Study, a longitudinal data collection effort that spans almost 25 years, to examine the role of early parent and child characteristics, specific parenting practices, and importantly, the ongoing nature of parent-child relationships (communication, interaction, support) as influences on elder mistreatment. We discuss the implications of our findings for theory and practice, emphasizing the utility of placing elder mistreatment within a broader relational context.

Authors

• Jennifer E. Copp, Florida State University

• Peggy Giordano, Bowling Green State University

• Wendy Manning, Bowling Green State University

• Monica Longmore, Bowling Green State University