Aging and Intimate Partner Violence: A Qualitative Study of Older Taiwanese Women

Background and Purpose

Population ageing is a global reality as people aged 60 years and older will double to 2.1 billion by 2060, over one-fifth of the world’s population (World Health Organization, 2022). In this context, elder violence is more alerting particularly intimate partner violence (IPV), mostly occurs in private. Taiwan is in fast line of aging countries and will become a super-aged society where one in five Taiwanese ages 65 and older in 2025 (National Development Council, 2023). The IPV against older Taiwanese women is alerting as the prevalence rate has tripled from 2.5% in 2008 to 7.9% in 2017 (Shen & Wang, 2018; Ministry of Health and Welfare, 2024). IPV is culturally sensitive, and Asian culture has a profound impact on women experiencing violence in marriage (Lin et al., 2016; Pan, 2021). Many older women have had experienced IPV in their young adulthood but less in known on the aging of IPV in older Taiwanese women from a sociocultural perspective. This study explores the subjective experiences of older female IPV survivors, presenting the aging and changes of IPV subtypes, and examining how Asian culture and aging intertwine to influence IPV against older Taiwanese women.

Methods

Using interpretive phenomenological analysis, this qualitive study employed in-depth interviews to capture the experiences and cultural significance of IPV in older survivors. Two inclusion criteria were used in purposive sampling recruitment: women who have experienced IPV after the age of 65 and the IPV incidents occurred withing two years prior to the interview. The research project has been approved by University IRB.

Findings

A total of 13 older Taiwanese women aged 69 and 74 participated in this study. They experienced the first time IPV between their ages of 17 and 30 years. The average of their IPV history lasts for 46.5 years ranging from 39 to 54 years. Over half of the participated were still married with an average of married for 48 years. Two were divorced, and two had recently become widowed within one to two years. More than half still lived with their spouses, four lived alone, and two lived with their children.

Findings indicated that gender and power dynamics shape the trajectory of violence against women across their lifetime. When they were young, it was common that the perpetrators used sex to trap women in abusive relationships. The aging made IPV abusers to employ different types of abuse including physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, economic abuse, and stalking. The abusers also manipulated their adult children to isolate older IPV survivors. Moreover, the abusers invalidated survivors’ lifelong contribution to the family.

Conclusion

This study contributes to advance the knowledge on changes of IPV over time that intersects aging, life course, and sociocultural gender norms. Cultural belief of family responsibility shapes the lifelong violence in older Taiwanese women. Trauma-informed services addressing IPV among older females are needed in different cultural contexts. Future research is needed to address coping and help-seeking behaviors among older IPV survivors.