This study employed a sample of adjudicated youth (N: 419 to 562) and structural equation modeling to estimate the association between self-reported traumatic brain injury (TBI) and subsequent adverse psychological effects.
Prior research demonstrated that traumatic brain injury (TBI) is associated with individual psychological symptoms; however, these findings may not pertain to the influence of TBI on the co-occurrence of negative psychological symptoms during key developmental stages. The current study tested the hypothesis (H1)that self-reported TBI is associated with adverse psychological effects and that (H2) self-reported TBI during adolescence is associated with both immediate and delayed adverse psychological effects; and finally, (H3) that self-reported TBI during the early stages of adulthood is not associated with immediate psychological effects. Study findings suggest that higher levels of self-reported TBI during adolescence were associated with higher levels of adverse psychological effects. These effects were both immediate and delayed; however, higher levels of self-reported TBI during adulthood were not associated with immediate adverse psychological effects. Overall, the study’s findings indicate that deleterious outcomes related to self-reported TBI during key developmental stages include proximal and long-term adverse psychological effects. (publisher abstract modified)