Also consonant with the literature on mental health functioning in older adults was the
finding that experience of previous traumatic events—including interpersonal and domestic
violence—increased the risk for emotional, sexual, and financial mistreatment. This indicates
that there may be some shared variance between causes of these forms of mistreatment
and precipitants of traumatic life events. On the most obvious level, interpersonal environments characterized by exposure to traumatic events are probably also more likely
to contain abusive individuals over time. Previous research with younger adults has also
noted the cyclical nature of violence as a risk factor for future violence.14