Understanding Elder Abuse: New Directions for Developing Theories of Elder Abuse Occurring in Domestic Settings

• NCJ Number: 241731
• Date Published: June 2013
• Length: 40 pages
• Publication Series: NIJ Research in Brief
• Agencies: NIJ

Annotation

This article reports the findings of two studies funded by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) that examine existing and new theories to enhance understanding of elder abuse.

Abstract

This report discusses findings from two NIJ studies of elder abuse in domestic settings. Compared to other areas of family violence, elder abuse has lagged in theory development and relied more on adapting existing theories from other fields. The authors describe the findings from the two studies in this context, emphasizing the importance of developing new theories of elder abuse and of looking critically at current theories to increase our understanding and guide future research.