Beatin', cheatin' and mistreatin' our elders: Black and White differences in the incidence of reported elder abuse.

Although research into elder abuse has produced hundreds of scholarly works over the last three decades, less than a dozen have focused on African Americans. Of the few investigations conducted on elder abuse among cultural and ethnic minorities, only a few (Cazenave, 1983; Griffin, 1992; Moon, 1993; Njeri and Nerenberg, 1993) have included measurable samples of these populations. Many scientists assume that White women aged 75--84, with low incomes are the most likely victims of abuse, or that, there are no differences among Whites and Blacks. In fact, for the most part, older African American women are stratified, socially and environmentally, such that they are more at risk for specific types of abuse than are White women. Ageism, racism, gender bias and income disparity are key social stratifiers. One of the most devastating consequences of social stratification is the production of a population of vulnerable minority older adults residing in urban areas that are at risk of elder maltreatment. Driven by a stratification perspective and the social area approach, this investigation examined the differences in the incidence of reported elder maltreatment between African and White Americans, 65 and older, and residing in urban and rural communities in Missouri. In light of the aforementioned factors, it was proposed that African American women (65 and over) living alone in metropolitan areas have low incomes, are residentially segregated, and therefore have higher incidence rates of reported elder mistreatment than White American women that are similarly situated. Using data from the Missouri Department of Social Services, Division of Aging's Annual Adult Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation reports for 1994--97, several hypotheses were proposed and tested. Findings from this investigation suggests that African American women with low incomes, who live alone in St. Louis City, are disproportionately over represented among abuse victims. Interestingly, abuse among this population, usually involved self-neglect which is theoretically more of a mental health type of dilemma than an elder abuse problem. Currently, very little is known about the relationship between social stratification factors and incidence rates of reported elder mistreatment among African American populations. This gap in our knowledge was the motivating force of this study.Ph.D.Black studiesCriminologyEthnic studiesGerontologyHealth and Environmental SciencesMental healthSocial SciencesUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/125956/2/3016908.pd