Calculation of the incidence of each of these types of abuse is complicated by several factors. First and foremost, the lack of consistent categories and definitions has created a situation where researchers and government agencies collect and sort case information according to independent criteria. Therefore, the figures obtained by different groups cannot be compared with any level of ease or confidence. Second, many of the studies providing incidence rates have been criticized in literature reviews or in later studies as poorly controlled and unreliable. Lastly, many groups use only reported cases as their source of information. This is problematic because elder abuse is a crime that is extremely likely to go unreported. In fact, Myers and Shelton consider that elder abuse is less likely to be reported than child abuse (1987). Because of these factors, the data gathered and conclusions disseminated may not reflect the true scope of the problem. However, legitimate attempts have been made to ascertain the overall incidence of elder abuse in the United States as well as the prevalence of each type. Myers and Shelton (1987) report that 4% of people over 65 may be victims of abuse, a statistic that is based in a 1981 report by the U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee on Aging and is liberally cited in other articles on elder abuse. Estimates of the number of cases of elder abuse per years range from 500,000 to 2.5 million.
For comparison, the 4% incidence yields approximately one million cases per year (Myers and Shelton, 1987). Pillemer and Finkelhor state that this 4% figure is based on an unreliable study conducted by Block and Sinnott in 1979; in their own random sample study they obtained a figure of 32 abused elders per 1,000, or 3.2% (1988). According to Powell and Berg (1987), financial abuse is the most common type, with a frequency of 61.7% of the reported abuse cases in their study.
