Elder Abuse by Household Members and Education of Elders’ Own Children Living in the Same Household: Empirical Evidence from Vietnam

Abstract

The authors focus on a traditional culture in which the elderly tend to live with their children, aiming to shed light on whether the education of own children within the same household helps reduce the chances of elderly parents’ being mentally and physically abused by family members. Using multivariate analysis to investigate the association between children’s education and domestic elder abuse from the Vietnam Aging Survey 2011, comprising 2,700 elderly individuals aged 60 years and older, the authors find that the higher the education level of an elderly person’s children living in the same household, the lower the risk for the elderly person’s being abused. Those facing the highest risk for violence are women aged 80 years and older, those who have some difficulty with daily activities, and those who live in urban areas. The authors call for policy attention to an issue that is rarely investigated, especially in traditional households where elderly parents live with their children.