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Lifetime prevalence of polyvictimization among older adults in Sweden, associations with ill-heath, and the mediating effect of sense of coherence
Linköping University, Sweden.ORCID iD: 0000-0003-0704-202X
Linnaeus University, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Department of Health and Caring Sciences.ORCID iD: 0000-0001-5200-1740
2021 (English)In: BMC Geriatrics, E-ISSN 1471-2318, Vol. 21, article id 129Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Sustainable development
SDG 10: Reduce income inequality within and among countries, SDG 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
Abstract [en]

Background Experiences of violence and abuse is a prominent part of the life history of many older adults and is known to have negative health effects. However, the importance of multiple victimization over the life course, e.g., lifetime polyvictimization, is not well investigated in this age group. The objective of this study was to investigate the prevalence of lifetime physical, emotional, and sexual victimization as well as polyvictimization among older adults in Sweden. We explored background characteristics associated with polyvictimization and hypothesized that violence victimization and especially polyvictimization would be associated with lower health status. To better understand factors that promote health in the aftermath of victimization, we also explored the effect of two resilience factors, sense of coherence (SOC) and social support, on the association between victimization and ill-health.

Method Cross-sectional data from a random population sample in Sweden (women n =270, men n =337) aged 60-85 was used. Respondents answered questions about exposure to violence, health status, social support, and SOC. Conditional process analysis was used to test if SOC mediates the association between victimization and health outcome, and if social support moderates the association.

Results Overall, 24.8% of the women and 27.6% of the men reported some form of lifetime victimization and 82.1% of the female and 62.4% of the male victims were classified as polyvictims, i.e., reported experiences of more than one episode of violence. As hypothesized, we found a negative association between victimization and health status and the association was most prominent for polyvictims. We found moderated mediation for the association between polyvictimization and health status, i.e., polyvictimization was associated with lower SOC and SOC had a positive correlation with health status. Social support moderated the association, i.e., victims without social support had lower health scores.

Conclusions Lifetime polyvictimization was common among older adults and associated with lower health status. To help victims of violence recover, or preferably never develop ill-health, a better understanding of what fosters resilience is warranted. This study implies that social support, and especially SOC may be factors to consider in future interventions concerning older adults subjected to violence.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
BioMed Central, 2021. Vol. 21, article id 129
Keywords [en]
Polyvictimization, Violence, Abuse, Life-course perspective, Resilience, Mediation model, PROCESS, Elder Abuse
National Category
Public Health, Global Health, Social Medicine and Epidemiology
Research subject
Health and Caring Sciences
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-101678DOI: 10.1186/s12877-021-02074-4ISI: 000620901000002PubMedID: 33596824Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85101048370Local ID: 2021OAI: oai:DiVA.org:lnu-101678DiVA, id: diva2:1539904
Available from: 2021-03-25 Created: 2021-03-25 Last updated: 2024-07-04Bibliographically approved

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Swahnberg, Katarina

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