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Elder Law Prof Blog
Katherine C. Pearson, Editor, and a Member of the Law Professor Blogs Network on LexBlog.com

Elder Bullies

By rmorgan

We hear a lot about “school yard bullies”, cyber-bullies and now, elder bullies (do mean kids grow up and be mean old people?) Even the thought of a “mean old bully” destroys our mental image of the sweet grandmother or kindly granddad stereotype of yesteryear.

Some might consider this to be peer pressure, but it may be something much more serious than that.  Back in March of 2012, AARP ran a story about Older Adults Can Be Bullies, Too  noting that the bullying can occur just about anywhere elders gather-senior centers, ALFs, independent housing, nursing homes, etc. The story quotes Dr. Robin Bonifas from Arizona State U. that 10-20% of those living in senior housing are victims of bullying.  The article extrapolates that figure nationally and notes that many instances (name-calling, bossiness, arguments or even physical contact) are unreported.

Marsha Frankel did a webinar on Combating Social Bullying Among Older Adults that is available on YouTube and runs slightly over an hour.  As part of World Elder Abuse Awareness Day 2013, Bristol Elder Services and the Southeastern Alliance for Elders hosted an Elder Bullying Conference, a clip of which is  available on YouTube.

Social Work Today ran an article by Kate Jackson on  Older Adult Bullying—How Social Workers Can Help Establish Zero Tolerance, discussing a three-prong strategy by social workers. Retirement Living website included an article on the topic on its website; the article includes cites to four articles on the topic.  If you just do an internet search for “senior bully” or similar search terms, you might be surprised at the number of articles your search retrieves. Dr. Bonifas (mentioned above)  has done a fair amount of work on this topic, and you can find cites to articles where she’s been interviewed and even a podcast or two of her talking on the topic.  If you cover this topic, two points for discussion with your students: remedies for the victims and whether bullying is covered by a state’s elder abuse statute.

Want to add this topic to your course? Take heart-we have given you a good start with the links to resources in this post. Let us know if you  cover it and if so, how it goes.

Becky Morgan