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This study aims to operationalize and test some predictions of a social exchange theory of elder abuse. The theory proposes that the combination of low resources and high dependency/low relational power increases the older adult’s risk of abuse. The authors tested these predictions by exploring the association between morality (indicator of resources) and abuse, moderated by social skills (indicator of power).

This was an exploratory study. The authors collected data from 62 participants between 64 and 94 years old who frequented social-recreational centres.

The authors found a positive association between the moral intuition harm/care and the report of emotionally and financially abusive behaviours and denial of rights. The moral intuition authority/respect is negatively associated with the same types of abuse. The effects of moral intuitions on the types of abuse increased in older adults with generally high social skills and low assertiveness.

This study provided initial results for a psychological interpretation of a social exchange theory of elder abuse and highlighted the importance of relational models where moral intuitions interact with social skills to predict elder abuse.

Identifying and assessing social skills has been a powerful way of linking human behaviour and human interaction with their consequences at significant developmental levels. There are some data connecting social skills with interpersonal violence but not yet with elder abuse. The reason might be the scarcity of quick and easy-to-apply measures of social skills. This study aims to adapt and validate the social skills inventory (SSI) (Del Prette and Del Prette, 2001) to the Portuguese population.

The authors conducted two studies. In Study 1, the authors gathered the psychometric characteristics of the SSI-Del-Prette through exploratoryfactor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). In Study 2, the authors correlated the new measure with measures of depression and empathy to test for divergent and concurrent validity.

The obtained version of the SSI-Del-Prette showed a good model fit and internal consistency. This measure presented six factors: conversation and social confidence, easiness of self-exposure, self-expression of positive affect, coping assertively with risk, defending interests and opinions and giving and receiving praise. The indicators of convergent and divergent validity supported the integrity of the measure.

The adaptation of this measure of social skills opens new possibilities for studying these skills.

This paper provides an adaptation of a measure of six social skills expanded to the older adult population.

Risk assessment in elder abuse is usually considered an additive process; risk factors are viewed as independent, and the higher the number of risk factors, the higher the risk. This study aims to explore the effect of the interaction between cognitive structures (episodic memory, perceptual speed, verbal fluency, executive function) and functional dependency on elder abuse.

The authors collected data from 62 participants, aged between 64 and 94 years old, in the Minho region of Portugal. Face-to-face interviews were conducted to apply the assessment procedures.

Results showed that emotional abuse is predicted by episodic memory and phonemic fluency, financial abuse by perceptual speed and phonemic fluency and neglect by perceptual speed. Moderation analysis showed that these effects were greater for older adults with higher dependence on movement and lower dependence on hygiene and daily organization. This study supports the hypothesis that the risk of elder abuse is interactive, highlighting a limitation of current risk assessment procedures.

The current study explores the possibility of risk factors for elder abuse interacting. Understanding how risk factors interact can help to design more accurate measures of the risk of elder abuse.

The study of theoretical models explaining elder abuse has been one of the main gaps in the literature of the field. The extent of support of each theory is not clear. This study aims to conduct a systematic review to examine research supporting or opposing six theories of elder abuse: caregiver stress theory, social exchange theory, social learning theory, bidirectional theory, dyadic discord theory and the psychopathology of the caregiver.

This study conducts a systematic review of the literature. Seven databases were searched six times using different keywords about each theory.

This paper finds 26,229 references and then organised and analysed these references using pre-established criteria. In total, 89 papers were selected, which contained 117 results of interest; these papers were summarised and assessed for conceptual, methodological and evidence quality. The results showed evidence in favour of all the explored theories, except for social learning theory, whose results indicate multiple interpretations of the theory. This study finishes this paper by proposing that each of these theories might explain different facets of elder abuse and that more research is necessary to understand how the predictions of these different theories interact.

This paper presents an extensive review of the literature on theoretical explanations of elder abuse. The findings can be of value for selecting theories for prevention programmes or providing a summary of the evidence for researchers and practitioners interested in the theoretical explanation of elder abuse.