Domestic Abuse Against Elder Women and Perceived Barriers to Help-Seeking

Abstract

The study's (n = 447) purposes were to (1) describe relationships of abuser behavior to elder women's perception of barriers to help-seeking; (2) compare fit of model to participants' levels of abuse, race-ethnicity, age, and gender and relationship of identified close other; and (3) determine extent to which the model differentiated relationship of abuser to participant and level of abuse. Analyses identified six factors contributing to the overall barrier score, accounting for 84% of total variance (χ²/df = 1.527, CFI = .989, RMSEA = .034), including three internal and two external factors and a single abuser behavior factor that were invariant across participant characteristic; however, covariances did differ.

Keywords:

• barriers to help-seeking
• elder abuse
• elderly women

Notes

This study was supported by National Institute of Justice (NIJ) Grant Number 2006-WG-BX-0008. The views expressed here are those of the authors and do not purport to reflect the position of the NIJ or the U.S. Department of Justice. Special thanks go to our research assistant, Maria Montoya.