ELDER ABUSE IN CONTEMPORARY BRITISH SOCIETY

• NCJ Number: 146701
• Journal: Journal of Elder Abuse and Neglect Volume: 5 Issue: 2 Dated: (1993) Pages: 1-5
• Author(s): G C J Bennett
• Date Published: 1993
• Length: 5 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Presentation
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Based on the keynote lecture given at the Abuse of Adults Conference, Nottingham, England, March 18-19, 1993.

Annotation

The speaker discusses the history of elder abuse as an issue of concern in contemporary British society.

Abstract

Elder abuse first gained professional acknowledgment in the mid-1970's, as the term "granny battering" entered the vocabulary. Awareness caught on in the United States as well. By 1984, interest in the issue became significant on both sides of the Atlantic, then faded in Britain. In the early 1990's, a significant number of researchers came forth with their findings and put the issue back on the social agenda. British research lags behind that of the United States, which has acknowledged elder abuse as a social problem. In Britain, the concept of caregiver stress has come to the theoretical forefront, while in the United States, the pathology of the abuser has predominated. Thus, there has been a general shift of research attention from the abused to the abuser. 17 references