Sex and Gender Implications in Cases of Elder Abuse

Abstract

This paper focuses on caregiving which has failed. Although little attention has been given to the role of sex and gender in elder abuse, an analysis of 77 cases of elder abuse seen in the Detroit area in 1981 revealed that both factors play a role in generating elder abuse, neglect, or exploitation, or in determining its form. Gender issues included: patterns of spouse abuse in old a e; gender differences in the types of abuse/neglect/exploitation wfich were perpetrated; gender concerns of the abuser which generate abuse; and sex or gender discrimination as a type of abuse of the elderly. Sexual factors observed included: parent-child incest; marital rape in old age; and problems of sexual malfunction which helped to generate the abuse. Suggestions for improved professional identification and management of elder abuse cases are made.