Document Type : Research Article
Authors
1 Dept. of Psychology, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran
2 Professor, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran.
Abstract
Introduction
Elder abuse is a very common phenomenon that currently exists in societies, and despite its many physical and psychological effects, less attention has been paid to it. The research literature indicates that some characteristics and behavioral patterns in the elderly, increase the risk of them being placed in abusive situations and it provides the ground for mistreatment of the elderly. It is also possible that these characteristics are the result of frequent mistreatment of them. Although the studies show differences in the characteristics of the elderly with and without the experience of abuse, there are challenges between the studies. Also, it seems necessary to study the dimensions of personality, which have received less attention in researches. Therefore, according to the existing gap, the present study was conducted with the aim of comparing the dimensions of temperament and character in the elderly with and without the experience of abuse.
Method
The method of the present research was casual-comprative. The statiscal population of the study consisted of the elderly who referred to the retirement centers of Rasht, Iran in 2022-2023. The participant of this study were 164 elderly people (72 elders with experience of abuse and 92 elders without experience of abuse) who were selected by the available sampling method (based on the cut-off score of 4 in Hwlek-Sengstock’s elder abuse screening test and the elder abuse clinical interview). Data were collected using short version of the Temparement and Character Inventory (TCI-56). The inclution criteria included elders aged between 65 and 74 years, having at least a middle school education, with informed and voluntary consent. The exclusion criteria included non-cooperation and regretion, chronic physical or mental illness such as dementia, speech disorder and hearing impairment. The data collection process was carried out by the researcher and under her supervision and lasted for almost 4 months. The data were analyzed by Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) in SPSS-24 software.
Results
The resaults indicated that there is a significant difference between dimentions of Temparement such as Harm Avoidance, Novelty Seeking and Persistence (except for dimention of Reward Dependence) and Character such as Self-directedness, Co-operativeness and Self-transcendence in the elderly of the two groups (P<0/001). So that the elderly with the experience of abuse had different dimentions of Temparement (lower level of Persistence component and higher level of Novelty Seeking and Harm Avoidance) and lower level of all dimensions of Character. The level of dimention of Reward Dependence was also lower in elderly with the experience of abuse, but the difference in the groups was not significant (P>0/001).
Discussion
These findings state that some personality traits, that is different levels of Temparement dimensions and low levels of Character dimensions, as a risk factor can provide the basis for elder abuse and increase vulnerability of the elderly to abuse situations. It is also possible that repeated experience of abuse has destructive effects on the personality of the elderly, especially the dimensions of Character which is the part of the personality created by the environment. The findings of this research show more details of personality dimensions and their relationship with elder abuse. Therefore, it is necessary to pay attention to these variables in the design of prevention programs. So that we able to prevent elder abuse experiences or design more appropriate intervention programs for each eldely person. The lack control of gender effect, the use of available sampling method and the use of self-reporting tools in data collection were the limitations of this research that was not possible to control them. It is suggested to control these factors in future studies.
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