Social support and elder mistreatment in Brazil: exploring relationships and moderating effects

ABSTRACT

Prior literature has demonstrated a negative association between social support and elder mistreatment. Furthermore, social support may moderate the negative relationship between health-related indicators and elder mistreatment. This study is the first to investigate these assertions in Brazil using nationally representative data. We employ the 2019 National Health Survey and a series of binary logistic regressions. Overall, increased social support from stronger ties, like family and close friends, reduces the likelihood of elder mistreatment. However, increased participation in broader and more distant social networks and circles of sociability may increase the risk of mistreatment. Moreover, the negative relationship between health-related indicators and elder mistreatment is partially moderated by increased social support. While findings on other support dimensions vary, family support appears crucial in mitigating elder mistreatment. This study contributes by underscoring the intricate interplay of social support, health, and mistreatment, advocating for family-centered interventions to improve elder well-being in Brazil.

KEYWORDS:

• Elder mistreatment
• health-related indicators
• social support

Disclosure statement

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

Data availability statement

The dataset utilized is available online at: https://www.ibge.gov.br/estatisticas/sociais/saude/9160-pesquisa-nacional-de-saude.html?=&t=microdados. Additionally, the R code developed for this study can be obtained from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/08946566.2024.2384397

Notes

1. Further methodological details can be found in prior publications (Stopa et al., 2020).

2. As a consistency check, we also adjusted a model that excluded social support variables and only included health-related variables and sociodemographic factors. We found very similar results to those of the full model, both in terms of statistical significance and odds ratios. Therefore, for brevity, we have omitted these findings, though they are available upon request.

Additional information

Funding

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