National Elder Mistreatment Study

This nationally representative study used stratified random survey of adults aged 60 and older to assess one year prevalence abuse and identify correlates of each form of abuse. Findings showed that more than one in ten respondents experienced some type of abuse or potential neglect in the past year. One-year prevalence was 4.6% for emotional abuse, 1.6% for physical abuse, 0.6% for sexual abuse, 5.1% for potential neglect, and 5.2% for current financial abuse by a family member. Low social support and previous traumatic event exposure was found to be consistently correlated across different types of abuses.