Years of the research: 2015
Country: Serbia
Language: English
Keywords:
Abstract:
A survey of older women in Serbia was conducted to understand the structural and individual financial abuse they experienced within the family context, as well as the risks of this form of abuse and their knowledge of their rights. This is the first study on financial abuse of older women in Serbia. It has important implications for older women who experience lower overall economic status than older men and women of younger ages. A convenience sample of 97 older women age 65 years and older from ten cities/municipalities of Serbia was interviewed. Respondents provided information on their finances, experience of receiving/forgoing their inheritance, lifelong contract with family members, etc. Given the sampling methodology, findings do not allow for generalization of the results. However, they provide insights that can inform more efficient policies to protect older people, in particular older women, from this form of abuse.
Researchers:
Type of research: national
Target group: Women above the age of 65
Sample:
The survey included 97 older women age 65 years and older from ten cities/municipalities in Serbia.
Aims/Objectives/Background:
While forms of elder abuse include physical, psychological, and sexual abuse, and neglect, in recent studies from developed countries, financial abuse and exploitation is emerging as a significant form of elder mistreatment. Older women in Serbia belong to a socially excluded and vulnerable subset of the population, with disadvantaged economic and social status. The aim of the survey was to better understand structural and individual financial abuse of older women in Serbia. Efforts were made to explore older women’s knowledge about the rights granted to them by law.
Findings/outcome/conclusion/research questions:
The finding of this survey suggests several important trends related to property management, management of funds and inheritance patterns that put older people and especially older women at a higher risk of breach of human rights, poverty, and deterioration of their social and health status. A sizable proportion of respondents reported renouncing their inheritance rights on behalf of their adult children and grandchildren (17.5%). Almost 40% of the older women respondents reported that their spouses and adult children were authorized to manage their money for them. 6.2% of respondents reported that their adult children have done so (4.1% sons, 2.1% daughters). Family relations in Serbia are influenced by a strong patriarchal ideology, as exemplified by the cultural ideal of parents sacrificing themselves for their children through provision of different forms of support, often at the expense of older parents’ well-being in later life.
Online publication/reports/links:
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08946566.2015.1094300
Financed by: EU
Contact person: Natasa Todorovic, natasa@redcross.org.rs, Milutin Vracevic, milutin@redcross.org.rs
Copyright
“The Central and Eastern European Active Ageing Network database is protected by copyright law, under international agreements and the EC Database Directive 96/9/EC. The owner of the database is the Institute of Mental Health of Semmelweis University and the University of Debrecen Faculty of Health. Reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is not permitted without the prior written authorization of the [owner].”