What we Know about Elder Abuse

"Society has created a huge wall of ignorance around the issue of domestic violence for older women. Older women have grown up in a culture where domestic violence was not even considered a crime. Therefore they are less likely to believe themselves a victim let alone report such violence. This coupled with the stereotypical view that older women do not have intimate relationships, and that older men are rarely a serious threat creates a chillingly dangerous environment for millions of American women.”

Kate Jopling
Public Affairs Officer
Help the Aged

Legal Services of Northern Michigan

The statistical data presented below was excerpted from the National Elder Abuse Incidence Study (NEAIS) of 1998, which was conducted by the National Center on Elder Abuse at American Public Human Services. The NEAIS is the first national study of abuse of women between the ages of 50-79. The NEAIS was the basis for the federal Elder Justice Act (EJA), which continues to be debated within the U.S. Congress.

The NEAIS studied 91,749 women over a period of three years. The study tracked women by age, type of abuse, and relationship of perpetrator to victim.

The NEAIS concluded:

1. “Two-thirds of elder abuse victims are women.”
2. “More than one million American women age 65 and over are victims of domestic abuse each year.”
3. “Postmenopausal women experience violence—including physical, sexual, and psychological abuse—at the same rate or at an even higher rate than do younger women.”
4. “…for every reported incident of elder abuse, neglect, or self-neglect, approximately five go unreported.”
5. “18% of women raped each year are 60 years of age or older…98% of sexual abusers are male…33% of these sexual assaults were witnessed by another.”
6. “39% of the sexual offenders of midlife and older women are their own adult sons…the most frequent form of sexual abuse of this population was repeated vaginal rape.”
7. “More than two-thirds of all reported elder abuse and neglect cases are perpetrated by family members—spouses (58%), children (24%), and other relatives (18%); it is not uncommon for adult sons to begin abusing their mother when the father is no longer physically capable.”
8. “One of every one hundred women age 50 to 64 is likely to be a victim of a violent crime (assault, rape, and robbery) every year.”
9. “Between 1974-1990, the murder rate for women age 65 and older increased by 30%.”
10. “Women, 80 years of age and older, suffer abuse and neglect two to three times their proportion of the older population.”
11. “Disabled (physical and/or cognitive) elder women are consistently assaulted and raped at two times the rate of non-disabled elder women.”
12. “The abuse and neglect of older women is a serious public health concern.”