Causal effects of elder abuse on depression: a longitudinal analysis in Vietnam

This study investigated the causal link between elder abuse and depressive symptoms among Vietnamese older adults, using the recent longitudinal surveys in 2019 and 2022. Propensity score matching (PSM) was employed, controlling for baseline outcomes and characteristics, to address the potential endogeneity between elder abuse and depressive symptoms. Our PSM estimation showed that experiencing elder abuse significantly increased depressive symptom index by 0.331 points. This result remained robust across multiple sensitivity checks. Heterogeneity analysis further showed that the impact of elder abuse was more pronounced among older women and individuals with lower education, highlighting the intersection of gender-based violence and socioeconomic disparities in the experience of elder abuse. Our findings underscore the harmful effect of elder abuse and the importance of targeted interventions to prevent elder abuse and mitigate its detrimental impact on depression.