Moral intuitions, social skills and elder abuse: exploring a social exchange hypothesis

Purpose: In this study, we operationalize and test some predictions of a social exchange
theory of elder abuse. The theory proposes that the combination of low resources and high
dependency/low relational power increases the older adult’s risk of abuse. We tested these predictions by exploring the association between morality (indicator of resources) and abuse,
moderated by social skills (indicator of power).
Methodology: This was an exploratory study. We collected data from 62 participants
between 64 and 94 years old who frequented social-recreational centers.
Findings: We found a positive association between the moral intuition harm/care and the
report of emotionally and financially abusive behaviours and denial of rights. The moral
intuition authority/respect is negatively associated with the same types of abuse. The effects
of moral intuitions on the types of abuse increased in older adults with generally high social
skills and low assertiveness.
Originality: Our study provided initial results for a psychological interpretation of a social
exchange theory of elder abuse and highlighted the importance of relational models where
moral intuitions interact with social skills to predict elder abuse.
This study was conducted at Psychology Research Centre (UID/PSI/01662/2013), University of Minho, and supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology and the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education through national funds and co-financed by FEDER through COMPETE2020 under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007653). João F. Fundinho was funded by a scholarship from the Portuguese Foundations for Science and Technology – FCT – (PD/BD/105965/2014).