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Domestic Violence in Older Adults

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Encyclopedia of Gerontology and Population Aging
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Synonyms

Domestic elder abuse; Elder abuse by spouse/partner; Elder intimate violence

Definition

Domestic violence in older adults is considered a subset of the larger elder abuse problem (National Clearinghouse on Abuse in Later Life (NCALL) 2013). Elder abuse “is an intentional act, or failure to act, by a caregiver or another person in a relationship involving an expectation of trust that causes or creates a risk of harm to an older adult” (defined as someone aged 60 or older), which takes the forms of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse, financial exploitation, and neglect (Hall et al. 2016, p. 28). The present entry focuses on the cases of domestic violence in older adults where abuse is perpetrated by a current or former spouse or intimate partner.

Overview

The boundary between domestic violence in older adults and elder abuse has not been clearly defined (Knight and Hester 2016; Penhale 2003). Elder abuse, by definition, occurs in the context of receiving long-term care...

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Correspondence to Jooyoung Kong .

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Kong, J., Lee, E. (2020). Domestic Violence in Older Adults. In: Gu, D., Dupre, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Gerontology and Population Aging. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69892-2_898-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69892-2_898-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-69892-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-69892-2

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