National Incidence Study

On October 8, 1998, the Assistant Secretaries for Aging and Children and Families, Jeanette C. Takamura and Olivia Golden, announced release of the National Elder Abuse Incidence Study prepared for the Administration on Aging and the Administration for Children and Families. This study, requested by Congress, was conducted by the National Center for Elder Abuse at the American Public Human Services Association (formerly the American Public Welfare Association) in collaboration with Westat, Inc., a Maryland-based social science and research firm.

This study confirms what elder abuse experts have long believed: reported elder abuse cases make up only the "tip of the iceberg." The study estimates that at least half a million older persons in domestic settings were newly abused, neglected, and/or exploited, or experienced self-neglect, in 1996. The study also found that for every reported incident of elder abuse, neglect, exploitation, or self-neglect, approximately five go unreported.

Click here for a full copy of the report.


Photocopies are also available for $ 35.00 from:

Checks should be made out to "University of Delaware"

The Clearinghouse on Abuse and Neglect of the Elderly (CANE)
Department of Consumer Studies
University of Delaware
Newark, DE 19716
(302) 831-3525 (voice)
(302) 831-6081 (fax)
Eileen.Castle@mvs.udel.edu (e-mail)