Estudio comparativo de los problemas de convivencia entre personas mayores institucionalizadas versus aula de mayores

Abstract

Institutionalized centers have become one of the most demanded alternatives as a home in which to spend the last stage of life due to the resources and services they offer. Traditionally, bullying among peers has been confined to the school environment; however, it is increasingly being shown that this phenomenon also occurs in other contexts. In this sense, several investigations have focused their attention on the phenomenon of bullying among older people. That said, the aim of this study was to compare bullying problems among users belonging to institutionalized centers with students in a classroom for the elderly. Participants were N = 80 elderly people (M = 73.23 years; SD = 11.18) with 63.7% being female. The Bullying Questionnaire adapted to Spanish was administered together with an ad hoc questionnaire to collect the sociodemographic characteristics in both groups. The results show a higher incidence of bullying in institutionalized centers, with social and verbal bullying being more common than physical bullying and cyberbullying. The conclusions revolve around the need to create bullying prevention and intervention programs among the elderly in community settings to improve their quality of life and promote active aging.