Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Weill Cornell Medical College, Cornell University, New York City.
J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2019 Jun 14;74(5):881-890. doi: 10.1093/geronb/gbx005.
Prior elder mistreatment (EM) research has not examined subjective assessments of problem seriousness from the perspective of victims. This study sought to describe the variation in appraisals of perceived EM seriousness among victims of emotional abuse, physical abuse, and neglect and to examine factors that influence varying appraisals using neutralization theory.
Data came from a subsample of EM victims (n = 191) drawn from a representative, population-based study (n = 4,156) of community-dwelling, cognitively intact older adults in New York State. The Conflict Tactics Scale and Duke Older Americans Resources and Services scales were adapted to assess EM. Subjective appraisal of abuse/neglect was measured according to ordinal levels of victim-perceived seriousness and predicted using ordinal regression.
Emotional abuse was appraised less seriously among victims who were both functionally impaired and dependent upon the perpetrator, lived with the perpetrator, and of increasing age. Emotional abuse was perceived with greater seriousness among victims enduring more frequent/varied abuse and when the perpetrator was distally-related. Neglect was appraised with lower seriousness among female victims and greater seriousness if perpetrated by a paid homecare attendant or in scenarios involving more frequent/varied unmet needs.
Findings carry implications for understanding victim help-seeking behavior and informing EM measurement.
先前针对老年人虐待（EM）的研究并未从受害者的角度考察对问题严重程度的主观评估。本研究旨在描述情感虐待、身体虐待和忽视的受害者对感知到的 EM 严重程度的评估差异，并使用中和理论检验影响不同评估的因素。
数据来自纽约州一项基于代表性人群的、针对认知完整的社区居住老年人的研究（n=4156）中的 EM 受害者的一个亚样本（n=191）。冲突策略量表和杜克老年人资源与服务量表被改编用于评估 EM。根据受害者感知到的严重程度的等级水平来衡量对虐待/忽视的主观评估，并使用有序回归进行预测。
在功能受损且依赖施虐者、与施虐者同住且年龄增长的受害者中，情感虐待的评估不那么严重。当受害者遭受更频繁/多样的虐待且施虐者与受害者关系较远时，他们会更严重地感知到情感虐待。在女性受害者中，忽视的评估不那么严重，如果由付费家庭护理员实施或在涉及更频繁/多样的未满足需求的情况下，忽视的评估则更严重。
研究结果对理解受害者寻求帮助的行为和 EM 测量具有启示意义。
