Jun 16th 2015

Domestic violence ‘grown old’: the unseen victims of prolonged abuse

by Hannah Bows

Researcher (Sexual Violence and Violence against Women) at Durham University

Domestic violence tends to be considered as a younger persons’ problem. The majority of adverts and campaigns focus on issues affecting younger people – and they often use younger models to increase awareness of domestic violence. But evidence is emerging that violence against women doesn’t stop as they grow older: it’s just less visible.

Counting Dead Women, a study by the chief executive of London-based domestic violence charity nia Karen Ingala Smith, has revealed that the majority of women killed by men’s violence in 2013 were over the age of 40. And the victims of two suspected domestic homicides last week were both women over the age of 45.

Yet it is difficult to get any real idea of the prevalence of domestic violence in middle age and later life, because of the lack of studies attempting to capture this data. The main source of information on domestic violence is the Crime Survey for England and Wales, which – among other flaws – has an upper age limit of 59 years for its questions on domestic violence. I have aimed to address this lack of information in my research.

The longevity of violence

Domestic violence against women in middle age and later life occurs in two main contexts. The first is late-onset domestic violence, which begins for the first time in later life, either in a new or existing relationship. The second is domestic violence “grown old”, where women have experienced domestic violence throughout a relationship lasting into their later years. Existing studies indicate that the latter category – domestic violence “grown old” – is the most common. Both contexts can involve a range of behaviours, including financial, emotional, physical and sexual abuse.

In my research, the severity of physical abuse often declined as both the victim and perpetrator aged, however emotional and sexual violence continued. Several women commented that they had experienced physical violence previously in their relationship, however the perpetrators no longer needed to use physical violence to control them. Instead, the threat of violence and the emotional abuse was enough to intimidate and manipulate these women.

When abusive relationships last for long periods of time, it compounds the issues that make it difficult for the women to leave. For one thing, older women may come from generations where women were less likely to work and have financial independence. For another, generational norms and values – particularly for women over 50 – often mean that women believe violence is a normal part of a relationship and that such matters should be kept private and within the family.

The shame of experiencing violence is often deeply embedded – and many women blame themselves for the abuse: for not being a good wife, or for expecting too much from their husbands. Having a nice home and a good job can also prevent women from leaving violent relationships. Compared to younger women, older women are more likely to have lived in their home for several years and have accumulated possessions which are difficult to leave behind.

Once a woman becomes a grandmother and her role includes caring for grandchildren this also makes it difficult to leave an abusive relationship because of issues such as feeling responsible for providing childcare or concern about granddad being seen as an abuser. Many of these issues are used as coercive methods by the perpetrator – the threat of losing the home and years of possessions, or the fear of not seeing the grandchildren again both came up in the study.

Different needs

The damaging effects of domestic violence have been well documented. But research suggests that women in middle age to later life may be more likely to use alcohol as a way of coping, compared to younger age groups. And older women can be more likely to suffer severe physical injuries than younger women; injuries that can be exacerbated by pre-existing health conditions linked to age, such as arthritis, diabetes or osteoporosis.

There is also evidence that older women are more likely to have a range of mental health problems. Although mental health problems are often seen in younger groups, they are likely to be exacerbated by the lasting abuse experienced by older women.

When it comes to providing support for the victims of domestic abuse, some needs are broadly similar across age groups – for instance, the need for secure housing and financial support. But the issues caused by physical and mental health conditions and alcohol or drug misuse are often magnified for older women. They are less likely to report violence and more likely to need a range of support services including long-term counselling, help with alcohol or drugs and assistance with finances – many women may not have worked, or had any access to money.

There are other differences too – years of abuse can erode women’s confidence and they may find it difficult to join in group sessions, particularly when the other women are younger. Depending on their age, accommodation in refuges – which is often based around the needs of women with children – may not be appropriate, due to older women’s difficulties with stairs, for example, or because conditions are too loud. This is made worse by a general lack of awareness that domestic violence affects all age groups and a lack of specific support for older victims. Many of the women I asked said they were either unaware of support services for domestic abuse victims or thought they were only for younger women.

But recognition of the fact that middle-aged and older women are experiencing domestic violence, and have different needs to younger women, is growing. The first refuge specifically for women over the age of 45 opened recently in Teeside in north-east England last week, as a part of Eva Women’s Aid. This is an important first step towards responding to the needs of older survivors – but we must continue to raise awareness about domestic violence directed against older women, and address the gaps in support.

The Conversation

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

Browse articles by author

More Essays

Film Review: The Last Vermeer
by Sam Ben-Meir
Nov 15th 2020
EXTRACT: "Perhaps it is Piller’s discovery that when it comes to war there is no such thing as innocence...."
I Want My American Dream Back
by Alon Ben-Meir
Nov 4th 2020
EXTRACT: "I imagined America as the land of the free that gave voice to the forgotten. Where race, color, and creed do not matter and human rights are guarded with zeal. Where the ingathering of all cultures and people made it richer and human resources and talent knew no limits or constraints. Where opportunity awaits the able and generosity is extended to the needy. Where everyone is equal before the law and political differences are valued to make America better. Where sacrifices are willingly made to right the wrong morals and fortitude guide its leaders. Where caring about friends and allies is the hallmark of the nation and opposing oppression near and far is the emblem that distinguished America. This is the character of America. This is the soul of America. This is what made America great. The America that gave me a home. The America that fulfilled my dreams."
Aging Creatives
by David W. Galenson
Oct 19th 2020

 We try harder

The American Struggle: Jacob Lawrence at The Metropolitan Museum of Art
by Sam Ben-Meir
Oct 15th 2020
EXTRACT: "“The paintings which I propose to do will depict the struggles of a people to create a nation and their attempt to build a democracy” – this is how Jacob Lawrence described his project in 1954. Over sixty-five years later his proposal has, if anything, become only more urgent. Two days after this exhibition closes, Americans will vote in what is arguably the most significant election in a generation, an election that will measure our commitment to preserving that democracy, the struggle for which was Lawrence’s mighty theme."
How much do our genes restrict free will?
by Hannah Critchlow
Oct 15th 2020
EXTRACT: "There are also other ways our life stories can be passed down through generations, besides being inscribed in our DNA...... One 2014 study looked at epigenetic changes in mice. Mice love the sweet smell of cherries, so when a waft reaches their nose, a pleasure zone in the brain lights up, motivating them to scurry around and hunt out the treat.... The researchers decided to pair this smell with a mild electric shock, and the mice quickly learned to freeze in anticipation....... The study found this new memory was transmitted across the generations. The mice’s grandchildren were fearful of cherries, despite not having experienced the electric shocks themselves. The grandfather’s sperm DNA changed its shape, leaving a blueprint of the experience entwined in the genes."
Biden versus Trump and Why poetry matters  
by Mary L. Tabor
Oct 1st 2020
EXTRACT: "As we Americans face the potential loss of a peaceful transition of power after the election and the possible end of democracy as we know it, we are reminded that discourse matters, that words matter and that the one who quotes poetry is a man who reads—and that matters."
From psychopaths to 'everyday sadists': why do humans harm the harmless?
by Simon McCarthy-Jones
Sep 25th 2020
EXTRACT: "We now know the potentially appalling long-term effects of suffering cruelty from others, including damage to both physical and mental health. The benefits of being compassionate towards oneself, rather than treating oneself cruelly, are also increasingly recognised..... And the idea that we must suffer to grow is questionable. Positive life events, such as falling in love, having children and achieving cherished goals can lead to growth..... Teaching through cruelty invites abuses of power and selfish sadism. Yet Buddhism offers an alternative - wrathful compassion. Here, we act from love to confront others to protect them from their greed, hatred and fear. Life can be cruel, truth can be cruel, but we can choose not to be."
'Extinction: The Facts': Attenborough's new documentary is surprisingly radical
by Julia P G Jones
Sep 19th 2020
EXTRACT: "Over his incredible career, David Attenborough has seen more of earth’s natural wonders than almost anyone. To hear him talk, with such clarity, about how bad things are getting is deeply moving. Scientists have recently demonstrated what would be needed to bend the curve on biodiversity loss. As Attenborough says in the final scene, “What happens next, is up to every one of us”. "
Destruction of Juukan Cave a loss to humanity
by Sam Ben-Meir
Sep 15th 2020
EXTRACTS: "The Anglo-Australian multinational company Rio Tinto – the largest iron ore mining company in the world – demolished two 46,000-year-old Aboriginal rock shelters in May.......The Dampier Archipelago of Western Australia is home to thousands of Aboriginal pictographs, and perhaps the oldest surviving rock art in the world. Indeed, Australia’s Indigenous art represents the longest uninterrupted tradition of art in the world – going back over 50,000 years......Aboriginal people represent the oldest continuous culture in the world...."
Iran’s secular shift: new survey reveals huge changes in religious beliefs
by Pooyan Tamimi and Ammar Maleki
Sep 13th 2020
EXTRACT: "Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution was a defining event that changed how we think about the relationship between religion and modernity. Ayatollah Khomeini’s mass mobilisation of Islam showed that modernisation by no means implies a linear process of religious decline.....Reliable large-scale data on Iranians’ post-revolutionary religious beliefs, however, has always been lacking...........In June 2020, our research institute, the Group for Analyzing and Measuring Attitudes in IRAN...conducted an online survey......The results verify Iranian society’s unprecedented secularisation."
When did we become fully human? What fossils and DNA tell us about the evolution of modern intelligence
by Nick Longrich
Sep 12th 2020
EXTRACT: "Just as you can upgrade your old computer’s operating system, culture can evolve even if intelligence doesn’t. Humans in ancient times lacked smartphones and spaceflight, but we know from studying philosophers such as Buddha and Aristotle that they were just as clever. Our brains didn’t change, our culture did."
How a new solar and lighting technology could propel a renewable energy transformation
by Sam Stranks
Sep 2nd 2020
EXTRACT: "Our lab in Cambridge, England, is working with a promising new family of materials known as halide perovskites. They are semiconductors, conducting charges when stimulated with light. Perovskite inks are deposited onto glass or plastic to make extremely thin films – around one hundredth of the width of a human hair – made up of metal, halide and organic ions. When sandwiched between electrode contacts, these films make solar cell or LED devices."
End Life Sentences for Non-Violent Crimes
by Sam Ben-Meir
Sep 2nd 2020
EXTRACT: "Bryant, a black man, was sentenced to life in prison for trying to steal hedge clippers from a Louisiana carport storage room in 1997. He has already served twenty-three years for this petty crime, and on 31 July the Louisiana Supreme Court denied a request to review his life sentence. The denial followed a lower appeals court’s 2019 decision that concluded “his life sentence is final.” The only judge on the Louisiana Supreme Court to dissent (or even issue an opinion) was Chief Justice Bernette Johnson. She wrote a stinging rebuke, observing that Bryant’s “life sentence for a failed attempt to steal a set of hedge clippers is grossly out of proportion to the crime and serves no legitimate penal purpose.” "
America’s Prisons Are Outrageously Unjust
by Alon Ben-Meier
Aug 18th 2020
EXTRACT: "In 2016, the Brennan Center for Justice reported that as high as 40 percent of prisoners should not be in prison—”behind bars with no compelling public safety reason.” There are literally thousands of young prisoners, Black and white, who are serving life sentences without the possibility of parole for non-violent offences. It is unfathomable that we as a society are spending billions of dollars every year to sustain such pointless cruelty, to inflict needless pain on individuals, fathers and mothers, who pose no threat at all to the public."
What is morally wrong with discrimination? A Kantian analysis
by Sam Ben-Meir
Jul 31st 2020
EXTRACT: "From a Kantian standpoint discrimination based on race – or religion, or gender – is fundamentally wrong. It is wrong, first of all, because it is dehumanizing, a denial of human dignity. When I racially discriminate, I am denying the person’s intrinsic self-worth, I am, in fact, denying their very right to exist, whether I know it or not. The moral law demands that I treat every individual as a free person equal to everyone else. If the moral law grants each of us a kind of infinite worth, it does not grant someone greater worth than anyone else."
How to help someone you live with who has depression
by Monika Parkison and Maria Loades
Jul 12th 2020
EXTRACT: "Remember, your wellbeing is extremely important when supporting someone with depression. Take time for self-care so you can model positive behaviours and be replenished enough to provide this crucial support."
History tells us that ideological ‘purity spirals’ rarely end well
by Katrin Redfern and Richard Whatmore
Jul 4th 2020
EXTRACT: "--- Nobody is more dangerous than he who imagines himself pure in heart, for his purity, by definition, is unassailable. --- Author James Baldwin’s words, written in the America of the late 1950s."
Your childhood neighbourhood can influence how your genes work – new study
by Helen Fisher and Aaron Reuben
Jun 29th 2020
EXTRACT: "Numerous studies have shown that children who grow up in more deprived neighbourhoods tend to have worse physical health as adults compared to those raised in more affluent areas. This is the case even when researchers take into account family income and education, and whether or not parents have major illnesses. In order to address this health disparity, researchers need to understand how those living in disadvantaged neighbourhoods end up with worse health outcomes. Our team’s latest study has highlighted one potential way your childhood neighbourhood may influence your health for years to come. It might do so through changing how the activity of your genes is regulated."
My Conversation with artist Ruth Poniarski
by Sam Ben-Meir
Jun 29th 2020
EXTRACT: "Ruth Poniarski is a painter and the author of Journey of the Self: Memoir of an Artist (Warren Publishing, 2020), in which she tells the story of her decade long struggle with mental illness, a “spiraling malady” which led her into a “pattern of psychosis”. I recently had the opportunity to talk with Poniarski about her life and work, and how she eventually overcame her demons."
Five ways Jürgen Klopp’s leadership style helped Liverpool to the top
by Matthew Smith and Sean Figgins
Jun 27th 2020
EXTRACT: "I know I’m good in a couple of things, really good in a few things, and that’s enough. My confidence is big enough that I can really let people grow next to me, it’s no problem. I need experts around me. It’s really very important that you are empathetic, that you try to understand the people around you, and that you give real support to the people around you."