Elder Abuse: A Review of the Literature

Research on family violence in the 1970s uncovered the existence of elder abuse, a problem that has received very little professional attention. Because of this lack of attention, social workers have had to rely on practice wisdom in this area. This article reviews the literature on elder abuse and examines categories of abuse, the incidence of abuse, and characteristics of the typical abused person. In addition, it presents hypotheses of the causes of abuse and strategies for preventing or dealing with it.