Will you be able to help and protect yourself when you grow frail? How can you stop elderly abuse by personality exploration and learning which pitfalls to avoid? Are you more a directive or an informative person? Do you ask for direction and easily give it? Or do you seek and give information? Your stance can help you take action to prevent elderly abuse-for yourself and others. How will you position yourself to avoid, prevent, and stop abuse of the aged? What can you do right now? Preliminary findings of four research studies made by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services suggest that some potential causes of abuse of the elderly include the following: 1. The majority of abused elderly cannot care for themselves. 2. The abuser was experiencing stress. Often the elderly victims and the care they required were identified as the source of stress. 3. Violence begets violence. It's banked throughout life and spent on the person who has the least power over us. Sometimes violence continues from generation to generation as the normative response to stress. 4. Most older individuals are not abandoned by their children. Seventy-five percent of the elderly live with these children or live less than 30 minutes away. Eighty percent of home care to the aged is provided by family members living in the same household. 5. The middle aged adult today is more likely to have a living parent than his counterpart of the past.