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A Canadian Comparison of Spousal Abuse in Mid and
Old Age Is Elder Abuse Simply a

Case
of Spousal Abuse Grown Old? Yongjie Yon, M.A
(c), Andrew Wister, Ph.D, Gloria Gutman, Ph.D,
Barbara Mitchell, Ph.D Simon Fraser University
Vancouver M. A. Department of Gerontology
2800 - 515 West Hastings Street Vancouver, BC
V6B 5K3
Background
Significant Explanatory Factors for
Emotional/Financial Abuse by Spouse/Partner For
Each Age Groups
Sample

• Comparison studies of spousal abuse or intimate
  partner violence (IPV) among different age groups
  are limited on a national level.
• Spousal abuse in older populations is often
  overlooked by health practitioners and is
  generally perceived as a problem associated with
  younger couples.
• Understanding spousal abuse in an older
  population is important in raising awareness of
  elder abuse and crucial to the development of
  specific interventions for older adults and their
  family members.

• One large pooled GSS dataset provided the sample
  for the study.
• For the older age group, there are 6, 971
  married/ common-law adults (60 years) with an
  average age of 69.1 years (SD 6.66). For the
  mid-aged group, there are 10,342
  married/common-law adults (45 to 59 years) with
  an average age of 51.3 years (SD 4.24).
• The prevalence rate for emotional/financial abuse
  in the older aged group is 6.9 (n 481)
  compared with 9.1 (n 941) in the mid-aged
  group.
• The prevalence rate for physical/sexual abuse in
  the older aged group is 1 (n 70) compared with
  2.4 (n 248) in the mid-aged group.
• In general, males and non-visible minorities are
  overrepresented in both age groups. A majority of
  the respondents live in large urban centres.

Research Questions

• What is the prevalence of spousal abuse among
  mid-and-old age adults? What are the differences
  in prevalence among sub-groups such as community
  size (i.e. urban and rural areas) and region?
• How is spousal abuse at mid-age different from
  spousal abuse at older age? Specifically, what
  are the risk and protective factors associated
  with IPV for the victims and perpetrators?

Discussion

• Emotional/Financial abuse is more common than
  Physical/Sexual abuse.
• Older adults are more likely to report being
  Emotionally/ Financially abused if they
• Contributed more to household income
• participate in evening social activities in the
  past month
• live in rural/small town
• Consistent with literature and macro/micro social
  theories, the following factors are significantly
  and positively associated with the prevalence of
  emotional/financial abuse among both the mid-age
  and older age groups
• being a visible minority
• taking medication
• having a disability
• Being much older (gt11 years) than spouse
• spousal drinking problem
• higher perception of neighbourhood crime

Methods

• A pooled dataset from the Canadian General
  Social Survey (GSS) 1999 cycle 13 and 2004 cycle
  18 compared spousal abuse between mid-age (45-59
  years) and older adults (gt60 years).
• Two types of abuse are examined
  emotional/financial and physical/sexual. Three
  regression models using personal, relationship
  and environmental explanatory factors are
  examined to determine the most salient predictors
  of spousal abuse for each age group.

Limitations

• Given that elder abuse is still largely a hidden
  crime, the findings may not accurately reflect
  the true prevalence.
• Part of the GSS questionnaire is based on the
  Revised Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS2), which has
  been criticized for lack of context information
  on violent behaviours.
• GSS questionnaires did not specify the degree and
  intensity of abuse.
• There are potential recall issues with the GSS as
  respondents are asked to recall abusive
  experience within the past 12 months to five
  years.

General Results

• Multivariate logistic regression found
  differences and similarities in predicting abuse
  for both age groups. In general, differences
  reflect the complexities of an aging population.
• Moreover, the associations between disability
  status and spousal drinking habits for both age
  groups are significantly associated with both
  types of abuse examined, indicating evidence of
  spousal abuse grown old.
• Further analysis found that when compared to
  non-medical users, persons who use medication to
  help them sleep, calm and deal with depression
  are more likely to be the survivors of past
  emotional/financial abuse for both age groups.

Implications

• Importance of Elder Abuse Awareness campaigns for
  vulnerable senior populations, such as visible
  minorities, and persons with disabilities, given
  their increased likelihood of encountering abuse.
• Given the differences in spousal abuse among
  different age groups, intervention programs for
  IPV for mid-aged victims may not be generalizable
  to the older populations.

Significant for Mid-Aged Adults Only
Significant for both age groups
Significant for Older Adults Only
Not Significant
Email yongjie.yon_at_gmail.com
Research is Funded By