Intimate Partner Violence of Rural Aging Women

Abstract: Although reports of intimate partner violence (IPV) decrease with age, a significant number of aging women experience IPV in their relationships. The structure and culture of rural environments may inadvertently conceal violence against aging women and inhibit prevention and treatment efforts. Guided by an ecological community framework, 3 focus groups involving 24 professionals working with victims of IPV in rural Kentucky and in-depth interviews with 10 aging rural women who had experienced IPV were conducted to examine the trajectory of, and community responses to, violence in late life. Findings revealed multiple interacting influences on IPV of aging women in rural areas including the women's families and resources, culture and locality, religion, community support, and government entities. Key Words: aging women, family gerontology, family violence, intimate partner violence, rural families. Because, if I can touch one person s life it will make it all worthwhile, well, of all these. . . years of being abused in every way, my nose has been broken like seven times, my eardrums have been burst, and if I can reach one person, it would be worth all that. (Louise, aged 61) Intimate partner violence (IPV) of women is a complex social phenomenon that cuts across all age, ethnic, racial, religious, and socioeconomic categories. Although reports of IPV decrease with age (Rennison, 2001), the problem does not completely dissipate. Limited national age-aggregated data available suggest that there are a significant number of midlife and older women (collectively referred to in this paper as aging women) who experience domestic violence. The 1992 National Survey of Women indicated that 1.4 million women between the ages of 45 and 64 were physically abused by their spouses (Plichta, 1993, as cited in Older Women's League, 1994). Of the 7,450,260 IPV victimizations against women recorded between 1993 and 1999 as part of the National Crime Victimization Survey, 118,000 (2%) victimizations were committed against women aged 55 or older (Rennison & Rand, 2003). Comparative statistics for women aged 60 and older are more difficult to ascertain primarily because the elder abuse literature typically does not single out older partners as a separate study group. Data from a national survey of Adult Protective Services (APS), typically the agency of first report of the mistreatment of vulnerable adults, revealed that in the 10 states that track this type of information, approximately 11% of the substantiated reports of abuse of persons aged 60 and older with a known perpetrator involved a spouse or intimate partner (Teaster, Dugar, Otto, & Mendiondo, 2006). Researchers and practitioners alike acknowledge that these estimates represent only the most overt cases. Aging women living with violence may be even more invisible in rural communities where geographic isolation, economic constraints, strong social and cultural pressures, and lack of available services significantly compound the problems they may confront when seeking support and services to end the violence (Few, 2005). The purpose of this research was to further understanding of IPV in rural communities by examining responses to violence from the perspective of aging women, as well as those entities intervening in their cases (e.g., APS caseworkers, women's shelters, law enforcement). Findings provide new insights into the lives of battered aging women and inform practices for community intervention and aid in developing programs and policies on the local, state, and national levels. IPV in Mid- and Late Life Perhaps because of ageist conceptions, IPV in mid- and late life has received scant attention from family researchers and advocates alike (Bonnie & Wallace, 2003; Brandi, 1997). Although the information that is available suggests that the nature and consequence of violent relationships is similar for women of all ages (Wilke & Vinton, 2005), aging women face unique personal and family issues and community obstacles that can influence their decision to leave or stay in abusive relationships. …