Course of Domestic Abuse Among Chicago's Elderly: Risk Factors, Protective Behaviors, and Police Intervention, 2006-2009 (ICPSR 29041)

Time Period(s) View help for Time Period(s)

Date of Collection View help for Date of Collection

Study Purpose View help for Study Purpose

The purpose of the study was to examine if and how risk factors and protective behaviors affect the course of elder abuse over time, as well as potential differences between those elderly residents who experienced at least one incident of domestic abuse (victims) and received a visit from a senior services officer or domestic violence liaison officer from the Chicago Police Department and those who did not. The study also included a sample of elderly residents who had no incidents of abuse (nonvictims) in order to establish whether there were any differences in demographic characteristics and risk factors between victims and nonvictims.

Study Design View help for Study Design

In-depth interviews were conducted with 328 elderly residents from three sample groups: (1) community nonvictims (n = 159); (2) community victims (n = 121); and (3) a police sample consisting of elderly victims who had been visited by trained domestic violence/senior citizen victimization officers in the Chicago Police Department (n = 48). Participants in the three groups were all current residents of the city of Chicago, aged 60 years and older. Interviews were conducted over the phone using two survey intruments: one for victims and one for nonvictims. The surveys had questions about types of abuse (physical, psychological, financial, and neglect); dependency status of participants (dependence of the abuser on the victim and vice-versa); and questions about service use or other protective behaviors. The study used a standardized screener to assess cognitive capacity/dementia and four broad abuse screening questions. Victimization was examined twice over a 10-month period, using the same instrument, to evaluate the course of abuse over time. The efficacy of police intervention was also examined.

Interviews for the first round of data collection were conducted in April, 2007 and May, 2008 -- June, 2008 for the community sample. First round interviews for the police sample were conducted between November, 2007 and October, 2008. Follow-ups were conducted 10.5 months after the initial interview, and concluded in May, 2009 for the community sample and October, 2009 for the police sample.

For the study, elderly was defined as those 60 years of age or more, consistent with the Chicago Police Department and Illinois Criminal Code definitions. Domestic abuse incidents were defined as incidents perpetrated by either a family member or member of the victim's household (i.e. someone who lives with the victim but is not a family member). In addition, abuse was defined to include physical, psychological, or financial abuse, and neglect.

The City of Chicago was selected as the site for the study primarily because of the Chicago Police Department's (CPD) heavy emphasis on elder abuse. Specifically, the CPD has an established Senior Citizens Services Section staffed by 25 senior service officers and 25 domestic violence liaison officers who respond to crimes against the elderly, and receive referrals from patrol officers, hotlines for the aging, and other provider agencies. These 50 officers also engage in prevention and outreach. The CPD provides an in-person mandatory follow-up with elderly victims of abuse by a senior service officer generally within two weeks of an incident to which police responded.

Sample View help for Sample

In order to obtain the sample of victims from the police department, special service officers and domestic violence liaison officers from the Chicago Police Department who made a contact with an elder abuse victim, provided a brief description of the phone survey and provided the victim with a volunteer form in which he/she would indicate his/her willingness to be contacted and the forms were returned to the Police Foundation. The Police Foundation received a total of 421 participant forms from elder abuse victims in the city of Chicago over a two year period, for which 187 (44 percent) agreed to be contacted regarding the survey. Of the 187 respondents, 41 fully completed the survey and 7 additional individuals answered enough questions to be included in the analysis, resulting in 48 total victims in the police sample.

The community sample (victims and nonvictims) was obtained by using a databank of phone numbers in the City of Chicago, including an oversampling of census blocks with higher proportions of elderly. The total sample size was 1,795 adults aged 60 years and older. From this sample, 159 nonvictims and 121 victims completed interviews.

Time Method View help for Time Method

Universe View help for Universe

All adults aged 60 years and older living in Chicago, Illinois between 2007 and 2009.

Unit(s) of Observation View help for Unit(s) of Observation

Data Source View help for Data Source

Data Type(s) View help for Data Type(s)

Mode of Data Collection View help for Mode of Data Collection

Description of Variables View help for Description of Variables

The study contains a total of 390 variables including questions about the following categories: victimization screening, ill health and mobility, social isolation, mutual dependency, perpetrator deviance and psychological history, perpetrator life stress, physical abuse, psychological abuse, neglect, financial abuse, and service use and protective behaviors. Demographic and computed variables are also included.

Response Rates View help for Response Rates

For the initial interview, the response rate was 9.57 percent for the community sample and 35.48 percent for the police sample. For the 10 month follow-up, there was 49 percent attrition for the nonvictim community sample, 58.7 percent attrition for the victim community sample, and 34.1 percent attrition for the police sample.

Presence of Common Scales View help for Presence of Common Scales

Several Likert-type scales were used. In addition, the following scales were also used:

• The Six Item Screener to Identify Cognitive Impairment (Callahan, Unverzagt, Hui, Perkins, and Hendrie, 2002)
• Partner Abuse Scale: Non-physical (Hudson, 1990)
• Mutual dependency, perpetrator deviance, psychological problems, and life stress (Pillemer, 1985)
• (Adapted) Revised Conflict Tactics Scale (Straus, Hamby, Boney-McCoy, and Sugarman, 1995).
• (Adapted) Service use and other protective behaviors (Bowker, 1984)

Original Release Date View help for Original Release Date

2013-04-23

Version History View help for Version History

Weight View help for Weight

None