Anxiety and Depressive Symptoms are Associated with Perceived Financial Exploitation in Israeli Older Adults

ABSTRACT

Objectives

There are no studies that have investigated mental health correlates of financial exploitation (FE) in Israel. Israel has diverse cultural traditions that emphasize strong family ties and social embeddedness, factors which may impact FE correlates. This study aimed to examine mental health correlates of perceived FE in Israel.

Methods

Israeli older adults (N = 137; mean age = 67.86, SD = 6.86, 51.5% female) were surveyed for history of FE, demographic measures, and depressive (CES-D) and anxiety symptoms (GAD-7).

Results

Twenty-one participants self-reported a FE history (perceived FE group), and 115 denied a history (non-FE group). After controlling for age, sex, and education, the perceived FE group reported significantly more anxiety (F(1, 108) = 7.16, p = .009) and depressive symptoms (F(1, 103) = 13.90, p < .001) than the non-FE group. A greater frequency of perceived FE participants surpassed clinical cutoffs of anxiety and depression.

Conclusions

Perceived FE was associated with anxiety and depressive symptoms, and in some cases at clinically significant levels. Future studies aimed at understanding mechanisms of these relationships are needed.

Clinical Implications

Findings support the need for clinical evaluations for those who have experienced FE in order to provide mental health services when appropriate.

KEYWORDS:

• Older adult
• financial exploitation
• anxiety
• depression

Acknowledgments

The author acknowledges Yoav Bergman, PhD; Duke Han, PhD; and Amit Shrira, PhD, for their helpful insights.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed on the publisher’s website.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported that there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.