PSYCHOLOGICAL ELDER ABUSE IN PERSPECTIVE: MEASURING SEVERITY LEVELS OR POTENTIAL FAMILY CONFLICTS?

摘要

Psychological Elder Abuse (PEA) assessment is described with different thresholds. This study aimed to examine how the prevalence of PEA and the phenomenon’s characterization varied using two different thresholds.Participants from the cross-sectional population-based study, Aging and Violence (n=1123), answered three questions regarding PEA. The less strict measure considered PEA as a positive response to any of the three evaluated behaviors. The stricter measure comprised the occurrence, for more than 10 times, of one or more behaviors. A multinomial regression compared cases from two measures with non-victims. Relative risk ratios (RRR) were computed to show the relative likelihood of being victim in each group with a given characteristic.Results show different prevalence rates and identified perpetrators. The two most prevalent behaviors (ignoring/refusing to speak and verbal aggression) occurred more frequently (>10 times). Prevalence nearly tripled for “threatening” from the less strict measure (1–10 times) to the stricter (>10 times). Most of the same RRRs were found for both groups of victims. Cohabiting differentiated PEA cases occurring >10 times: individuals experiencing more frequent abusive behaviors (>10 times) are more likely to live as a couple or as a couple with children.Rather than a specific threshold between PEA and “normal” family conflicts, the results suggest PEA as a continuous phenomenon with different severity levels. Development of a valid and reliable measure for PEA that includes different ranges is needed.