Financial Abuse in Elderly Korean Immigrants: Mixed Analysis of the Role of Culture on Perception and Help-Seeking Intention

Abstract

This study aims to evaluate how elderly Korean immigrants perceive and respond to a hypothetical incident of financial abuse on the basis of their cultural background. By using a quota sampling strategy, 124 elderly Korean immigrants were recruited. A mixed-method approach was employed to explore the role of culture on elderly immigrants' view of financial abuse and the construct of independent and interdependent self-construal was adopted to theoretically guide the study. Mixed-method analysis confirmed considerable influence of culture, particularly in responding to the abusive situation. Although the vast majority of the elders (92%) perceived financial abuse as elder mistreatment, only two-thirds (64%) intended to seek help. Five major themes for not seeking help were produced. These are: (a) issues related to family problems, (b) tolerance of the abuse, (c) shame, (d) victim blame, and (e) mistrust toward third party intervention. A series of binary logistic regressions revealed (a) a lower likelihood of seeking formal types of help with those who had higher level of adherence to traditional values and (b) the profile of vulnerable elderly Koreans who are at higher risk of being financially abused: male and less educated. This article also discusses implications for social work practice and elder mistreatment policy, particularly focusing on how to work with elderly Korean immigrants who are vulnerable to this problem and who tend to use collectivistic cultural values in responding to financial abuse.

Perception of Elder Mistreatment and Its Link to Help-Seeking Intention: A Comparison of Elderly Korean and Korean American Immigrants

“…The original scenarios were tools developed to understand social service providers' perceptions of and intervention strategies for "elder abuse" (Moon, 2002). The four scenarios have been revised to be more culturally specific in previous studies to assess perceptions of and responses to EM among Korean elders (see Lee & Eaton, 2009;Lee & Shin, 2010).…”

“…A quota sampling strategy (Neuman, 1994) was employed to select equal numbers, by gender and age, from Korea and the U.S. Details on quota sampling are described elsewhere (Lee & Eaton, 2009). This technique of non-probability and purposive sampling permits inclusion of various traits or focused phenomenon within a comparatively small sample.…”

“…Chang and Moon (1997) reported that among older Korean immigrants, 34 of 100 respondents (34%) indicated awareness of at least one incident of "elder abuse" among relatives, friends, and neighbors. Other studies examined how cultural values and acculturation influence the extent to which elderly Korean immigrants consider violent incidents as "elder abuse," their intention to seek help, and definitions of types of "elder abuse" (Lee & Eaton, 2009;Lee, Lee, & Eaton, in press;Moon, 2000;Moon & Williams, 1993).…”

The Actual Motion Capability And Civil Competency Reports Edited For Elderliness; Eski�ehir Experience

“…Yaşlıların sivil ve hukuki haklarının ihlal edilmesi, yasadışı ya da izinsiz olarak mallarının, parasının, banka/emeklilik hesabının ya da diğer değerli varlıklarının kullanılması ve değiştirilmesi, kendi evinden çıkartılması ve hile yolu ile vekaletname alınması ekonomik ve hak istismarı örnekle-ridir (12)(13)(14)(15) …”

Household extension and employment among Asian immigrant women in the US

“…Again, ethnic factors are in play. Among elderly Korean immigrants, those who are highly committed to traditional collectivist values are less likely to look for formal assistance (Weng and Nguyen 2011: 331; see Lee and Eaton 2009). However, there has been no research on whether disabled extended adults' support for women varies across national-origin groups.…”