Growing Old in a Risk Society: Elder Abuse in Canada

ABSTRACT

Risk society theorists maintain that uncertainty and instability dominate contemporary intimate relationships. Using weighted data from the 1999 General Social Survey, we examined several variables potentially associated with the interpersonal risk of emotional elder abuse. Employing binary logistic regression, we found those seniors who were isolated from external supports, as well as those who had a change in marital status, were more likely to experience emotional elder abuse, supporting interpersonal risk theory. Conversely, religiosity failed to influence the occurrence of emotional elder abuse, a finding that is inconsistent with our theoretical expectations. More rigorous testing of this theory is required.

KEYWORDS:

• Elder abuse
• emotional
• family change
• interpersonal
• risk society