14 DAY TRIAL // We use to say young and restless, but the numbers can contradict us: about one quarter of the women older than 65 have been the victim of physical, sexual or psychological violence inside their couple.
Roughly 3.5 % of the subjects had experienced violence in the past five years, and 2.2 % in the past year. "Intimate partner violence is not a problem only for younger women," said Amy Bonomi, lead author of the study and associate professor of human development and family science at Ohio State University.
The research team took phone interviews to a sample of 370 women aged 65 and older from western Washington state and northern Idaho. "This is one of only a handful of studies to focus solely on the depth and breadth of violence perpetrated by intimate partners against older women", said Bonomi.
26.5 % of the subjects reported multiple types of violence by an intimate partner over their lifetimes. "It was very rare that women experienced only one type of violence. Over half experienced two or more types of violence", said Bonomi.
Roughly 18 % accused sexual or physical abuse and 22 % psychological abuse, like threatening, derogatory names or behavioral control from their partner. "The psychological abuse experienced by women in this study was not minor. About 70 % of women who experienced verbal threats by an intimate partner said these threats were severe. Additionally, women who reported controlling behavior had experienced this abuse for an average of 10 years", said Bonomi.
In spite of the severity of the situation, only 3 % of the subjects declared they had been asked by a health care provider about physical or sexual abuse by an intimate partner since age 18. "Not enough doctors and other health care professionals are screening women for intimate partner abuse," Bonomi said.
"The health care setting is a crucial focus for victims, because it provides a safe, confidential place for ongoing interactions between abused women and their health care providers. While the prevalence of violence found in this study is startling enough, it is probably an underestimate of how much it actually occurred."
In fact, in this research, women were asked to recall abuse over a lifetime and many display a tendency to minimize violence experienced early in life. Moreover, the subjects of this study were women consistently insured and highly educated, while in other categories the violence rates tend to be higher. "Intimate partner violence takes not only a personal toll, but a financial one as well" said Bonomi.
Previous researches made by the same team pointed out that the health care costs for abused women were 19 % more costly than for non-abused women. "We found that health care costs for abused women were still higher even five years after the abuse stopped. This underscores the need to pay attention to the issue of intimate partner violence in health care settings", said Bonomi.