The Elderly’s Life Situations and Determinants of Elderly Violence : The Quantitative Survey in 5 Provinces

Abstract

          This quantitive study aimed to investigate life situations, social security and violence among older people in Thailand. The sample  was a random sampling by studying communities in the North, Central, Southern, Northeastern Regions. and Bangkok, one province with 2 communities per region, total 2,204 samples using questionnaires. The analysis was performed using SPSS program, descriptive statistics, t- test and multiple regression. 
          This study found that most of the elderly people in the study had socioeconomic hardships, more than half of the elderly did not work. When considering the income of the elderly, it was found that 74.5 percent of the elderly had an income less than 4,000 baht per month. Elder who lived alone was found 10 percent which was similar to the data of national findings.  We found that The study found that the elderly experienced a higher proportion of mental violence than other violent form, followed by property violence, neglect, physical violence and sexual violence. Factors predicting insecurity feeling and violence in the elderly included gender, age, income, health status, and dependency.
           This research suggests that the concept of social welfare through work is an alternative way to make working seniors able to develop oneself and be self-reliant through professional skill development. It is needed to motivate all sectors to create jobs and income among the elderly. Active aging policy should be taken into account the social and culture context of the elderly, including support to build partnerships with the organization of the community welfare system.