Financial and Non-Financial Victimization and Late-Life Depression in Korea: The Moderating Role of Age and Gender

Background: Crime and abuse are increasingly recognized as major threats to life in later life. The association between abuse/crime victimization and depression in older adults has been documented in the literature. However, few studies have attempted to comprehensively categorize abuse and crime and identify their association with depression. This study examined the association with depression levels after re-categorizing abuse and crime experiences into financial and non-financial victimization. The financial victimization group included fraudulent purchases, property damage due to scams, property crimes, and financial abuse. The non-financial victimization group included violent crime and multiple types of abuse (physical, emotional, sexual, neglect, and self-neglect). We also attempted to understand how gender and age, typical demographic variables, play a role in the relationship between each type of victimization and depression.

Methods: This is a cross-sectional study using data from the 2023 Living Profiles of Older People Survey to analyze the relationship between victimization type and depression level and to examine the moderating role of age and gender. Data analysis was performed using STATA 18.0, including multiple regression and moderation analysis. After excluding cases with missing data, 9,951 participants aged 65 and older were included in the analysis. Depression level was measured using the SGDS-K scale. For victimization, we used 10 questions asking whether the respondent had experienced abuse or crime in the past year and categorized the responses into financial and non-financial types. Gender was coded as male (0) and female (1), and age as 0 (≤74 years) and 1 (≥75 years). Other demographic, health, and social variables were covariates.

Results: The results of multiple regression showed that both financial victimization and non-financial victimization were associated with depression, even after controlling for each other. The moderating analysis revealed that individuals younger than 75 years reported higher levels of depression compared to those aged 75 and older when experiencing non-financial victimization. Regarding gender, older adults who are female reported higher depression levels than males when experiencing non-financial victimization. However, the moderating effect of age and gender was not found in the relationship between financial victimization and depression.

Implications: Evidence suggests that when experiencing non-financial victimization, younger older adults (aged below 75 years) and female adults may have higher levels of depression than their older or male counterparts. However, there are no gender or age differences in the association between financial victimization and depression. The heterogeneous effects of age and gender appear in non-financial victimization but not in financial victimization, suggesting that different psychological, social, and behavioral mechanisms may influence how individuals perceive and react to these two types of victimization. Policies and programs aimed at preventing victimization and addressing the mental health impact on older adults should be age- and gender-sensitive. Providing targeted mental health support to younger older adults and females who experience non-financial victimization could help mitigate its psychological effects.