Elder Abuse In Aging Families

In the text The Handbook of Families and Aging, Chapter six on “Sibling Relationships from Midlife to Old Age” and Chapter seventeen on “Elder Abuse in Aging Families” these chapter go more in-depth about how sibling relationships change and operate later in life, and the important topic of Elder Abuse, and its effects on the elder population. When reading these chapters I really was interested in learning about the quality of sibling relationships, and elder abuse as a whole and the types of elder abuse that can occur.
In chapter six “Sibling Relationships from Midlife to Old Age”, the chapter talks about the quality of sibling relationships later in life. “Generally, siblings constitute the closet degree of family relatedness within a single generation of the family.” (Bedford, & Avioli, Pg. 125) When on the topic of quality of sibling relationships the most interesting fact I learned was that recent studies show the bigger the family the closer the relationships. It is known that those with a bigger family size, have better influences, more support, and overall better sibling relationships due to this. ( Calsyn,
“ Elder abuse is a global term referring to the maltreatment perpetrated on an adult approximately 60 years of age or older. ( Teaster, Tenzin, Wangmo, & Vorsky, pg. 409) Although, there is the main definition of elder abuse the NCEA has identified seven types of elder abuse. These seven types are physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, neglect, abandonment, and self-neglect. When reading this chapter on elder abuse, I really was really taken back on this topic. I myself was aware of what else abuse was, but I was not aware that there are seven different types of elder abuse. Now knowing about this topic more I feel a better understanding of how serious this topic is in old