Researchers are aware of the detrimental effects of a practice called scapegoating. Many of us, during our life, have often played several roles that periodically we cast upon others. The aged parent, like it or not, often “inherits” one of these roles and becomes an unwitting scapegoat.
The researcher Archer suggests, “The focus of negative energy, arising out of scapegoating flows from a younger generation in the form of unfulfilled dreams, whereas the elder is the receiver or carrier of these multiple disappointments and worn traditions.” He further states, “The elderly individual tends to personify all of the facets of life that the young are conditioned to avoid i.e. death, illness, depression and uselessness.” It then becomes relatively easy for a young person to transfer their negativity and project it onto the aged parent in the form of an unwanted feeling, although the parent may in fact have already internalized the social rejection that is felt.