For the first time, the 2022 SDAC asked people about their experiences of physical abuse, emotional abuse and neglect in the 12 months prior to interview.
The new questions were asked of people who:
were aged 18 years and over, and
were living in households, and
received a personal interview which was answered by them and not by someone else for them (via proxy).
It is important to note that the questions about abuse and neglect were voluntary, and up to a third of respondents chose not to answer some or all these questions. Those who preferred not to answer the questions are still included in the total population denominator used to calculate the proportions presented in this analysis.
Of people aged 65 years and over who met the above criteria:
4.4% said they had experienced at least one form of abuse or neglect in the last 12 months
1.2% said they had experienced physical abuse
3.5% said they had experienced emotional abuse
0.5% said they had experienced neglect.
Abuse or neglect was more likely to be reported by those aged 65 years and over who:
had disability (5.6% compared with 3.1% of those without disability)
were female (5.2% compared with 3.6% of males)
were carers (7.2% compared with 3.7% of non-carers).