Background: Elder mistreatment is a serious issue affecting between 300,000 and 800,000 older adults. Elder mistreatment has serious consequences for older adults and can include immunological dysfunction, increased mortality and emotional difficulties such as depression, feelings of inadequacy and self-contempt. Sub-groups such as persons with Alzheimer's disease have heightened risk for elder mistreatment, but it is not clear whether this heightened risk represents life-long patterns of abuse between persons or whether they represent a change in conflict style over time as a result of changes associated with dementia.