Domestic Violence and Mental Health Among Older Adults in the U.S during COVID-19

Overview: Domestic Violence (DV) has heightened worldwide since COVID -19, including among vulnerable and little-studied older adults. This study investigated the prevalence of DV and its impact on mental health among U.S. older adults during COVID-19.Proposal text:

Introduction:
Physical and social distancing, lockdowns and stay-at home orders have become common across countries to limit the transmission of COVID -19 (Havnen et al., 2020). Along with such policies, domestic violence(DV) has also escalated worldwide (Boserup et al., 2020). DV has been reported to have serious mental health consequences such as depression and anxiety for both younger and older people (Yoon et al., 2020a,2020b).
COVID-mitigation measures such as social distancing, lockdowns and stay-at –home orders may also cause loneliness, which may exacerbate older victims’ vulnerabilities (Tso & Park, 2020). To date, research on DV had tended to focus on younger women or children. Research on the issue among older adults is necessary during the pandemic given older populations’ vulnerabilities both to COVID and DV. Therefore, this study investigates 1) the prevalence of DV among older adults in the U.S during COVID-19 and 2) the impact of DV on mental health among this population.
Method
Data for the current study were collected from March 8, 2021 to April 8, 2021 in the U.S via an online survey after participants provided electronic consent. The Internal Review Board of the authors’ school in the U.S approved all study procedures. The current study sample is comprised of survey data from 522 participants aged 51 and older (range: 51 to 80 and older) living in the U.S. A multiple regression was employed to investigate the effects of DV on mental health among this population during the period of study. An independent variable, the experience of DV, was measured based on the Composite Abuse Scale (revised) (Ford-Gilboe et al., 2016). The dependent variable, anxiety during COVID-19, was identified employing the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) (Spitzer et al., 2006) (α =.95). Loneliness during COVID-19 was measured with three items by Hughes and colleagues (Hughes et al., 2004) , (α = .86). Depression was measured with two items by Kroenke and colleagues (Kroenke et al., 2003), (α = .88). The control variables were physical health status, gender, education, and annual income. All binary variables were converted into dummy variables before analysis.
Results
Before conducting the multiple regression, the assumptions were checked. The criteria were met. The prevalence of DV among the sample population during COVID-19 was 10.2%. A hierarchical regression was employed. In step 1, the control variables--health, education, gender, income and the experience of DV-- were entered into the model. The experience of DV and physical health were significant (F (5, 516) = 21.462, p < .001, Adj. R2 = .164). In step 2, loneliness and depression were entered into the model. In step 2, the experience of DV, physical health, loneliness and depression were significant (F (7, 514) = 87.542, p < .001, Adj. R2 = .538, ΔF = 209.404, p