Exploring an Emerging Measurement Issue in Older Adult Maltreatment: Exploitation of Older Adults’ Residences

ABSTRACT

Despite nationwide housing challenges that might lead to the exploitation of older adults’ housing resources, exploitation of older adults’ residences has not been a focus of measurement in the rapidly developing field of elder abuse and neglect. Rather, measures of older adult abuse and exploitation used in the research literature emphasize specific property, money, or resources being taken. Two composites are used to illustrate exploitation of older adults’ residences by trusted others on whom the older adults depended with potentially serious implications for environmental safety and ultimately the older adults’ housing stability. As part of a larger study on older adult maltreatment, police reports were coded for abuse and financial exploitation as well as misuse of the older adult’s residence that threatened the older adult’s housing security and/or exerted control over the older adult. Nearly one in ten (9.2%) police reports involving older adult victims and known/trusted perpetrators described exploitation of residences. Residence exploitation was separable from financial exploitation and less likely to co-occur with neglect. Considering the importance of housing stability to older adult well-being, consequences of maltreatment by a known/trusted other, and a national housing crisis, we propose that exploitation of older adults’ residences warrants further measurement and practice attention. Findings are relevant to advancing theory in older adult maltreatment (e.g., application of white-collar crime versus betrayal trauma and family violence theories).

KEYWORDS:

• Older adult abuse
• elder abuse
• financial exploitation
• housing
• vulnerable adult
• family abuse
• financial abuse
• betrayal trauma

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the Denver Forensic Collaborative and Denver Police Department for their collaboration as well as Michaela Hennig, Tejas Srinivas, Kerry Gagnon, Naomi Wright, and Susan Buckingham for input. A description of these findings was included in a Summary Overview Report to the National Institute of Justice.

Notes

¹ These composites draw on details from numerous cases for illustrative purposes and no individual, identifying information is used.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Institute of Justice [Grant #2013-MU-CX-0032]. The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views or the official position of the National Institute of Justice or any other organization.