An Investigation of the Longitudinal Effects of Crime Victimisation on Social Well-being; Cognitive and Physical Health in Older Adults

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Being the victim of a crime can have detrimental effects on people's health and well-being, in theshort term and even long after the crime was committed (e.g. Norman et al., 2012). In older adults,abuse (both criminal abuse and neglect) is associated with decreased years of survival after theabuse occurred (Lachs, Williams, O'Brien, Pillemer, & Charlson, 1998). However, it is still unclearhow victimisation leads to increased risk of death. Lachs et al. (1998) suggest that negative socialsupport may directly or indirectly be a causal factor. There is some evidence that, for older adults,being the victim of a crime is associated with greater social isolation; an increase in feeling unsafeand a higher level of dissatisfaction with their neighbourhood (Scharf, Phillipson, & Smith, 2005). Arecent review of the negative consequences of abuse of older adults shows strong links betweenbeing the victim of abuse and negative health consequences, including decreased physical health,increased hospitalisation and mental health disorders (Yunus, Hairi, & Yuen, 2019). However, thereview found that there were not enough studies in the literature to be certain of the effect ofolder adults' victimisation their quality of life, cognitive decline and social functioning.We do know that social isolation in older adults is linked to reduced physical and mental health(Cornwell & Waite, 2009), increased cognitive decline (Tilvis et al., 2004), as well as leading to anincrease in fear of crime (Acierno, Rheingold, Resnick, & Kilpatrick, 2004). Conversely having socialsupport predicts higher quality of life in older adults (Gow, Pattie, Whiteman, Whalley, & Deary,2007). Some of these effects suggest that negative feedback loops maybe at play here. Socialisolation may increase cognitive decline and fear of crime, but fear of crime and cognitive declinemay also increase social isolation: each node in this network could be strengthening each other'seffect.