African American Elderly Abuse

African Americans represent the largest racial minority group in the US, and their elderly population is also the largest due to the baby boom and technological advances. Elderly people on the whole face abuse, which according to Giordano and Giordano (1984) 1 out of 10 elders living at home face abuse, like any elderly group they also face abuse. Also they have faced many forms of violence in their life from racial violence and violence between their own people, such as with gangs and section rivalries. All these aspects serve to explain some parts of the high rates of abuse for African American elderly, however not all since the group in not entirely homogeneous. However unlike their majority counterpart, elderly Blacks have a very different heritage, one that exposed them to racial injustices and discrimination. Because of these common experience, Black have formed a sense of community between themselves that in some ways seems to be very effective, such as their institutional rates are much lower than those of White Elderly. However, their informal networks often lack resources to aid elders in issues of maltreatment, abuse and neglect. Elder African Americans who experience abuse often remain silent about such things because of the community’s judgmental attitude towards both the victim and abuser. 

In order to prevent abuse to older African Americans agencies should focus on educating the community about elder abuse and creating a non-judgmental attitude that encourages both abusers and victims to share their experiences in order for them to be able to recover for such episodes.

Griffin, Linner Ward and Oliver J. Williams. "Abuse Among African-American Elderly" Journal of Family Violence.

Tauriac, Jesse J. and Natoschia Scruggs. "Elder Abuse Among African Americans" Educational Gerentology. Volume 32, Issue 1. 2006. pages 37-48