Prevalence and associated factors of elder abuse in a community-dwelling population of Aotearoa New Zealand: A cross-sectional study

Abstract

The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to investigate the prevalence and associated factors of elder abuse in a representative sample of older people in Aotearoa New Zealand. Analysis was conducted on responses from the second wave of the New Zealand Longitu- dinal Study of Ageing (NZLSA) omnibus survey of 3,923 adults aged 50-87 years. Using the elder mistreatment screening questions, the sample was split between those who identified of having experienced elder abuse (n = 529) and those who did not (n = 2417) from a large population-based study to compare on 19 variables (i.e. age, gender, marital status, living arrangement, education levels, ethnicity, personal income, total number of health conditions, physical health, mental health, ability to get around, economic wellbeing, loneliness, social and emotional loneliness, depression, happiness, satisfaction with life and quality of life). Significant differences were found on 16 of the variables assessed. Results suggested that those who have experienced elder abuse had a higher level of loneliness and poor economic wellbeing. They were more likely to experience depression, have poorer mental health and be less happy. The experience of abuse had significant impact on their satisfaction with life and overall quality of life. A better understanding of these risk factors associated with elder abuse in aging population will assist with both prevention and intervention.

Abuse and Discrimination Experienced by Older Women in the Era of COVID-19: A Two-Wave Representative Community Survey in Hong Kong

“…These findings are consistent with literature that shows that elder abuse is a risk factor for various adverse health outcomes (e.g., Allen, 2019 ; WHO, 2021b ; Yunus et al, 2017 ). In a population study in New Zealand ( Yeung et al, 2015 ), elder abuse was shown to predict poorer physical health, mental health, and health-related quality of life, with effect sizes ranging from 0.26 to 0.70. Similar associations have been demonstrated between age discrimination and health, and the WHO global report on ageism has highlighted the negative consequences on health among older persons ( WHO, 2021a , 2021b , 2021c , 2021d ).…”

Prevalence of elder abuse and victim-related risk factors during the COVID-19 pandemic in China

“…On the other hand, the longer the time the elderly individual, adult children and grandchildren spend together, the more the possibility of conflict increases, leading to an increased risk of elder abuse [ 8 , 9 ]. Furthermore, social distancing measures limit the opportunities for elderly individuals to interact with friends and obtain social support, which increases the risk of abuse to a certain extent [ 36 , 37 ].…”

Prevalence and Associated Factors of Older Adults Mistreatment in Bharatpur, Chitwan

“…7,10 The current estimate of overall older adult mistreatment in the United States is substantially higher than estimates in Western countries. [20][21][22][23] In contrast, findings from Iran and Nepal revealed that 80% and 61.7% of the elderly, respectively, had endured at least one type of mistreatment in the previous year. 9,8 These discrepancies may be due to the fact that self-reported mistreatment is typically based on selfperception and that, for ethical reasons, we did not attempt to confirm older adults mistreatment allegations with their caregivers.…”