Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-vvkck Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T08:06:54.941Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Influences on the perception of elder financial abuse among older adults in Southern California

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 May 2015

Bob G. Knight ,
Seungyoun Kim ,
Sarah Rastegar ,
Scott Jones ,
Victoria Jump  and
Serena Wong
Bob G. Knight*
Affiliation:
USC Davis School of Gerontology, 3715 McClintock Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0191, USA
Seungyoun Kim
Affiliation:
USC Davis School of Gerontology, 3715 McClintock Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0191, USA
Sarah Rastegar
Affiliation:
USC Davis School of Gerontology, 3715 McClintock Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0191, USA
Scott Jones
Affiliation:
Superior Court of California, County of Ventura (retired), Camarillo, CA, USA
Victoria Jump
Affiliation:
Ventura County (CA) Area Agency on Aging, 646 County Square Drive, Ventura, CA 93003, USA
Serena Wong
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH 43402, USA
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: Bob G. Knight, PhD, USC Davis School of Gerontology, 3715 McClintock Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0191, USA. Phone: 213-740-1373. Email: bknight@usc.edu.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Background:

Under-reporting of elder financial abuse is partly due to failure of those around the victim to perceive the financial mistreatment as abuse. This study explored the effect of victim and perceiver factors on perception of elder financial abuse in the context of Routine Activity Theory (RAT).

Methods:

488 older adults in Ventura County (CA) were surveyed about financial abuse using vignette method. In the study's Vignette 1, the amount of money taken, the type of frailty, and the relationship of perpetrator and victim were manipulated. In Vignette 2, the victim's age and relationship of perpetrator and victim were manipulated. Respondents’ demographics (age, gender, education, and ethnicity) were collected.

Results:

Logistic regression analyses revealed that children of the victim were least likely to be seen as committing abuse in both vignettes. In Vignette 1, there was an interaction of gender of respondent and the amount of money taken. In Vignette 2, non-Whites were less likely to perceive the signing over of the house as financial abuse. Respondents endorsed the concept of a special court with expertize in elder abuse as a way to increase the likelihood that they would report.

Conclusions:

Even though most financial abuse is perpetrated by family members, older adults are less likely to perceive a financial situation as abuse when it involves a child of the victim, thus making reporting and prevention less likely. The support for a specialty Elder Abuse Court (EAC) suggests that some reluctance to report is based on misgivings about punishing the perpetrator.

Keywords

financial abuserisk factorsroutine activity theorycultural differences
Type
Research Article
Information
International Psychogeriatrics , Volume 28 , Issue 1 , January 2016 , pp. 163 - 169
Copyright
Copyright © International Psychogeriatric Association 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Acierno, R. et al. (2010). Prevalence and correlates of emotional, physical, sexual, and financial abuse and potential neglect in the United States: the national elder mistreatment study. American Journal of Public Health, 100, 292–297. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2009.163089.Google Scholar
Choi, N. G. and Mayer, J. (2000). Elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation: risk factors and prevention strategies. Journal of Gerontological Social Work, 33, 5–25. doi: 10.1300/J083v33n02_02.Google Scholar
Garrison, S. T. and Gutter, M. S. (2010). 2010 outstanding AFCPE® conference paper: gender differences in financial socialization and willingness to take financial risks. Journal of Financial Counseling and Planning, 21, 60–72.Google Scholar
Hayes, A. F. and Matthes, J. (2009). Computational procedures for probing interactions in OLS and logistic regression: SPSS and SAS implementations. Behavior Research Methods, 41, 924–936. doi: 10.3758/BRM.41.3.924.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jackson, S. L. and Hafemeister, T. L. (2011). Risk factors associated with elder abuse: the importance of differentiating by type of elder maltreatment. Violence and Victims, 26, 738–757. doi: 10.1891/0886-6708.26.6.738.Google Scholar
Jackson, S. L. and Hafemeister, T. L. (2012). Pure financial exploitation (vs.) hybrid financial exploitation co-occurring with physical abuse and/or neglect. Psychology of Violence, 2, 285–296. doi: 10.1037/a0027273.Google Scholar
Lachs, M. and Berman, J. (2011). Under the Radar: New York State Elder Abuse Prevalence Study. Retrieved fromhttp://nyselderabuse.org/documents/ElderAbusePrevalenceStudy2011.pdf.Google Scholar
Lee, H. Y. and Eaton, C. K. (2009). Financial abuse in elderly Korean immigrants: mixed analysis of the role of culture on perception and help-seeking intention. Journal of Gerontological Social Work, 52, 463–488. doi: 10.1080/01634370902983138.Google Scholar
MetLife Mature Market Institute (2011). The MetLife Study of Elder Financial Abuse: Crimes of Occasion, Desperation, and Predation Against America's Elders. Retrieved from https://www.metlife.com/assets/cao/mmi/publications/studies/2011/mmi-elder-financial-abuse.pdf.Google Scholar
Mihaljcic, T. and Lowndes, G. (2013). Individual and community attitudes toward financial elder abuse. Journal of Elder Abuse & Neglect, 25, 183–203. doi:10.1080/08946566.2012.712867.Google Scholar
Moon, A. and Williams, O. (1993). Perceptions of elder abuse and help-seeking patterns among African-American, Caucasian American, and Korean-American elderly women. The Gerontologist, 33, 386–395. doi: 10.1093/geront/33.3.386.Google Scholar
Mysyuk, Y., Westendorp, R. G. and Lindenberg, J. (2013). Added value of elder abuse definitions: a review. Ageing Research Reviews, 12, 50–57. doi: 10.1016/j.arr.2012.04.001.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rabiner, D. J., OʹKeefe, J. and Brown, D. (2004). A conceptual framework of financial exploitation of older persons. Journal of Elder Abuse & Neglect, 16, 53–73. doi: 10.1300/J08v16n02 05.Google Scholar
Selwood, A., Cooper, C. and Livingston, G. (2007). What is elder abuse–who decides? International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 22 (10), 1009–1012. doi: 10.1002/gps.1781.Google Scholar
Setterlund, D., Tilse, C., Wilson, J., McCawley, A. and Rosenman, L. (2007). Understanding financial elder abuse in families: the potential of routine activities theory. Ageing & Society, 27, 599–614. doi: 10.1017/S0144686X07006009.Google Scholar