A methodological strength of our study was that mistreatment events were initially assessed
independent of perpetrator status, thereby permitting a more accurate prevalence estimate
derived from assessment of both stranger- and family-perpetrated mistreatment events; most
previous research has focused on only 1 form of victimization per study, yielding an incomplete picture. Interestingly, functional impairment in our respondents predicted only emotional and financial mistreatment. The greater need of some older adults for help and assistance in accomplishing everyday activities appeared to elicit verbal abusiveness and
economic exploitation but not other forms of abuse. Thus, our findings provided only limited
support for the long-standing belief that caregiver stress is a causative factor in mistreatment
of the elderly.6,15–17