Abuse, Neglect, and Disrespect against Older Adults in India

Abuse, Violence, and neglect against men and women have for too long remained a relatively ‘unseen’ part, being a social problem internationally and even in India. The rising proportion of elderly in India exhibits concern for the well-being of this section of the population. Abuse against the elderly is recognized as an important challenge to elderly health, but its determinants are not yet well understood. Primary research on the issue of elder abuse and neglect in India is limited due to tremendous reluctance to discuss intergenerational conflicts. Thus, the objective of the study was to find out the prevalence of elder abuse and the study also tried to examine the differences in elder abuse cases by several socioeconomic characteristics, chronic conditions, etc. The statistical analysis was based on descriptive statistics, Chi-square test, and binary logistic regression to understand the profile of elderly experiencing any abuse or violence or neglect or disrespect. Overall 11% had reported any type of elder abuse, while verbal abuse reporting was highest (90%) followed by disrespect (52.5%) and neglect (45.21%) respectively. Physical violence was high among males while 61% of women were being neglected in the society. In rural areas approximately 80% of elderly were facing different types of abuse. Our findings reveal that the most common perpetrator of violence within and outside family, were verbal abuse i.e. 66.34% (within) and physical abuse 45% (outside) the family. Thus, it indicates that elderly women, especially widows, those in oldest-old age group (80+ years) and physically immobile, were more vulnerable to abuse than others. Education, wealth quintile, living alone, and the presence of any morbidity were the important determinant of elder abuse. Not only the poor, but even the rich were also susceptible to neglect and abuse in many families. The government must realize its reasonability and need to bring the needful policies or programmes in the care of the elderly.

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Authors and Affiliations

1. National Institute for Research in Reproductive Health, ICMR, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India Himanshu Chaurasia
2. International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India Shobhit Srivastava

1. Himanshu Chaurasia