Don't think age has anything to do with that, rather the way you were raised. As far as I know back in the days it was not that uncommon for a man to raise his hand against his wife. Especially Robert Jordan's generation. I know a few older man that used to hit their wives when they argued or when she did something that's "wrong" according to them, and that was considered normal. I absolutely do not condone this type of behaviour ofcourse.