Economy Drops And Results In Violence And Crime Against Youth And Seniors

Main Category: Psychology / Psychiatry
Article Date: 28 Apr 2009 - 4:00 PDT

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As we all watch with great concern the continued downward spiral of the global economy, most eyes are on the economists. Unfortunately, we are over looking the effects on two of our most valuable groups. These are seniors and youth.

We will look at the seniors first and uncover a tragedy about to unfold. As the economies collapse around the globe, seniors are going to feel the stresses as they continue to make it (or not) on very fixed incomes. Those with comfortable nest eggs are going to have added pressure to help family members (children and grandchildren) as they suffer the devastation of their financial situations. More and more adults will turn to their parents for financial bailouts, much like AIG and GM have done with the government. Again, for the most part it is due to over confidence of the past economy and reliance on future prospects. They failed to prepare for a collapse in the economy and their own personal finances.

With this added stress we will be witness to more violence and financial abuse against seniors. Further, in some cultures we will see an increase in the areas of senior suicides, "accidental deaths" and homicides of seniors.

Suicides as a result of seniors who are concerned about the stress of burdening struggling family members with added financial and personal pressures. Accidental deaths will increase as seniors take more aggressive risks to help family members with the financial and personal stresses associated with work and being laid off. Homicide rates will increase in some areas as a result of the pressures which children will feel for caring for aged parents. In rare instances it will be an attempt to claim the estate of the aged parents and associated life insurance policies. As the stresses in the homes increase, so will the rates of domestic violence including seniors.

An example of this is speculating on a recent case in British Columbia Canada where a senior shot a care home employee. Her rent had stopped being paid by her family at the care centre and she was facing an eviction. She produced a gun and shot a care home employee. Had she not been facing eviction and being put on the streets, it is likely; she would not have felt such helplessness and desperation to take such an action. Her financial situation should be looked at in this case and if the family was withholding or misappropriating funds, they should be charged not only for that but also as accomplices to the shooting.

When it comes to children and youth we will see the trends of violence and crime increase. As the increased financial stresses hit home behind closed doors, rates of abuse will increase against women and children. People who we would never have expected to lash out will as the stress of reduced or eliminated incomes combined with high debts caused them to "crack". The adults may take it out physically on the children, spouses and other family members in the household. The children and youth will feel the emotional stresses as they will pick up on the parents' stress over finances and feel a lack of control at home. Even parents, who think that their children are unaware of the stresses and situation, are just fooling themselves. The children and youth will pick up on it in very passive ways and not say anything but may internalize the stress and fears. They may sleep less, feel more nauseated than normal, increased headaches, mild to sever mood swings and reduce the trust in the parent(s) as they feel they are not giving them information which has a major impact on them. They may pick up on the stresses and fears and not on the solutions and or options available to your family. Thus, you may feel you have it under control but they do not know that and could be actually stressing more than the parents or more than they need to. The children may feel like a Burdon on the family and push away from the family in order to feel they are doing something to help when it is misplaced and the wrong way for them to deal with the situation. Some children and youth will take to shoplifting to get things they want in order to reduce the stress on parents in asking them for these items. Children and youth may attempt to regain a sense of control by lashing out on others and as far as acting violently towards others. Gaining a false sense of control in their lives and over others to compensate for the feeling of no control at home and in their personal life. More and more youth will be tempted by the local drug dealers and pushers to get into illegal activities to bring them income. The children and youth will see a hopeless economy around them and see people losing their life savings and homes. They will see the drug dealers rolling with pimped out cars and more bling than Mr. T at a Liberace concert. They see the immediate benefits of the illegal activity but do not see the long term pitfalls and dangers. More family members will turn a blind eye to the activity seeing it as a solution as well.

When you think about the economy and your personal situation, ensure that you do so with raw vision. Do not blanket your views and stresses. The more you discuss it with family, the more opportunities will present themselves to you and relieve some of the stresses on you. Family will be able to be more supportive and work together on solutions. Do not turn your back on your family. The economic crisis will go away and we will recover. If your family goes away, you and they may never recover. What would you rather have at the end of the day, more money and nobody to share it with or less money but being with the ones you love? Trust me from experience, family should always be first and the stresses will push them away if you do not keep them involved and aware.

Source
James Miller, END Youth Violence and Canadian Seniors