The study will examine the most recently discovered arena of family violence, abuse of elder parents by their adult offspring. With increasing numbers of dependent elder parents and decreasing numbers of children to share in their care, conflict that results in violent encounters is receiving increased attention. Current knowledge about elder abuse stems almost entirely from surveys of professionals and paraprofessionals. Etiological formulations and strategies for intervention have been adopted from experience in child abuse, with little or no empirical evidence. Investigation remains to be carried out with elderly victims and their adult offspring perpetrators utilizing relevant comparison groups. The study will provide in-depth knowledge of the dynamics of elder abuse in contrast to two populations. The core sample will be comprised of families (n=50) with a substantiated report of physical elder abuse. In-depth semi-structured interviews will be conducted to obtain the perspectives of both the abused elder and the adult offspring caregiver. Two critical comparison groups will be used to test two hypotheses: (1) Families (n=50) with an elder parent who have not been identified as elder abusing will be used to test Hypothesis 1: There will be significant differences in independent variables (characteristics of perpetrators and of victims, family dynamics, and relationships in the community) between families with an elder parent who has been abused and an elder parent who has not been abused. (2) Families (n=50) with a substantiated report of physical abuse of a child between 2 and 5 years of age will be used to test Hypothesis 2: There will be more commonalities than differences in independent variables among families who have physically abused an elder parent and families who have abused a young child. Data analysis will involve discriminant analysis to test Hypothesis 1 and analysis of variance and chi-square tests of significance to test Hypothesis 2. Qualitative data analysis will be ongoing throughout the project. Results of this research will contribute to the understanding of generational conflicts in families with elder parents who require care, a phenomenon expected to increase in the coming years, and to inform policy decisions related to care of dependent elder parents in the home environment.
