Research at the College of Public Health
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Pamela B. Teaster is a Professor and the Director of the Graduate Center for Gerontology. Her current research projects include: exploring linkages between poverty and elder abuse (KY Center for Poverty Research), a prevalence study of nursing home abuse (private donors), A Week in the Life of APS in Kentucky (University of KY and the KY Cabinet for Families and Children), court-focused elder abuse initiatives (The National Institute of Justice) and an evaluation of the public guardianship programs in Florida (FL Department of Elder Affairs). She has recently conducted a national survey of elder and vulnerable adult abuse (National Center on Elder Abuse), public guardianship systems (The Retirement Research Foundation), and the sexual abuse of vulnerable adults in institutions (National Institute on Aging). She serves on the Editorial Board of The Gerontologist, the Journal of Applied Gerontology, and the Journal of Elder Abuse and Neglect, of which she is a former editor. She is the President of the National Committee for the Prevention of Elder Abuse and is the first president of the Kentucky Guardianship Association. She recently served on the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Social Security and Representative Payees, the American Bar Association Commission on Law and Aging, and the Center for Guardianship Certification. She is a Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America and a recipient of the Rosalie Wolf Award for Research on Elder Abuse. She is the author of over 70 peer-reviewed articles, reports, books, and book chapters.
The Issue of Elder Abuse
Escalating rates of elder mistreatment are reported by practitioners and researchers alike. In a recent national study of Adult Protective Services (APS), typically the agency of first report concerning elder abuse, there were 253,421 reports of abuse of adults age 60+ or 832.6 reports for every 100,000 people over the age of 60 (Teaster, Dugar, Otto, Mendiondo, Abner, & Cecil, 2006). Findings from the National Elder Abuse Incidence Study (National Center on Elder Abuse, 1998) revealed that more than 500,000 persons aged 60+ were victims of domestic abuse and that an estimated 84% of incidents are not reported to authorities, denying victims the protection and support they need.
Given significant underreporting, the Senate Special Committee on Aging estimated that as many as five million older Americans may be victims of abuse, neglect, and/or exploitation every year. These vulnerable elders are subject to injury and to premature death (Lachs et al., 1998), often from caregivers and family members. Elder financial exploitation—commonly linked with other forms of abuse and neglect—threatens the health, dignity, and economic security of millions of older Americans. Elder abuse is estimated to cost Americans tens of billions of dollars annually in health care, social services, investigative and legal costs, and lost income and assets.
Lachs, M.S., Willams, C., O’Brien, S., Pillemer, K., & Charlson, M.E. (1998). The mortality of elder mistreatment. JAMA, 280, 428-432.
Teaster, P. B., Otto, J. M., Dugar, T. D., Mendiondo, M. S., Abner, E. L., & Cecil, K. A. (2006).
The 2004 survey of state Adult Protective Services: Abuse of adults 60 years of age and older. Report to the National Center on Elder Abuse, Administration on Aging, Washington, D.C.
NCEA. (2005). Fact Sheet, National Center on Elder Abuse. Retrieved August 23, 2007 from http://www.ncea.aoa.gov/NCEAroot/Main_Site/pdf/publication/FinalStatistics050331.pdf