Risk Factors of Elder Abuse

Abstract

Elder abuse is a growing and emergent global public health concern. A better understanding of risk factors of elder abuse could help us develop effective screening methods to identify individuals who are at risk of elder abuse, allocate resources and services to those who are in need of help, and develop preventions and interventions to address the issue. This chapter providesa review of theories for explaining risk factors of elder abuse, describes victim and perpetrator risk factors contributing to elder abuse, and provides implications for future research on risk factors of elder abuse. In particular, to offer a more comprehensive review on risk factors of the issues, this chapter discusses victim and perpetrator risk factors separately.