African-American seniors are twice as likely to be mistreated than elders of other races. They are five times more susceptible to being swindled, the first population-based survey on the psychological abuse of senior citizens in the US has found.
Reporting the survey results in The Gerontologist journal, University of Pittsburgh researchers have called for health care and social service workers to be especially vigilant for the possible mistreatment of African American seniors. The survey is among only a few that focus on race as a specific factor in elder mistreatment.
Lead author Scott Beach, assistant director of Pitt’s University Centre for Social and Urban Research (UCSUR) and director of the center’s Survey Research Programme, said in a statement that the population-based survey collected information directly from senior citizens through face-to-face and telephone interviews, the most effective way to document unreported abuse. Usually, elder mistreatment data is gathered from complaints filed with Adult Protective Services.
The most striking finding was that racial disparity in mental abuse or financial exploitation was not explained by additional factors such as education, health, age, or socioeconomic status, Beach said. On an average, African-Americans tended to be slightly younger, less educated, and more likely to be single, divorced, or widowed. Non-African Americans with similar background were still less likely to report mistreatment or financial deceit.
Psychological mistreatment included being yelled at or insulted, having personal property destroyed, and receiving threats of injury, stoppage of care, or being sent to a nursing home. Among African-Americans, 24.4 percent reported being abused since turning 60 and 16.1 percent reported psychological mistreatment within the past six months.
Around half as many non-Black seniors reported abuse with 13.2 percent claiming psychological abuse since turning 60 and 7.2 percent saying it happened within the previous half-year. Interestingly, African-Americans were usually less upset by aggressive behavior, yet more African Americans reported being “extremely upset” when deliberately insulted or when their belongings were destroyed.
African-Americans reported even higher instances of financial exploitation, which was defined as having checks stolen, having money tampered with, and being made to sign documents they did not understand. Only 8.4 percent of non-African American elders reported being cheated since turning 60 and a mere 2.4 percent said it happened within the past six months. On the other hand, 23 percent of African Americans claimed that someone meddled with their money since they turned 60 and 12.9 percent said it occurred recently.
