Self-reported traumatic brain injury during key developmental stages: examining its effect on co-occurring psychological symptoms in an adjudicated sample

Primary Objective: Prior research has demonstrated that traumatic brain injury (TBI) is associated with individual psychological symptoms. These findings, however, may not pertain to the influence of TBI during key developmental stages on the co-occurrence of negative psychological symptoms.

Research Design: It was hypothesized that (H1) self-reported TBI is associated with adverse psychological effects, that (H2) self-reported TBI during adolescences is associated with both immediate and delayed adverse psychological effects, and finally, (H3) self-reported TBI during the early stages of adulthood is not associated with immediate psychological effects.

Methods and Procedures: The current study employed a sample of adjudicated youth (N: 419 to 562) and structural equation modeling to estimate the association between self-reported TBI and subsequent adverse psychological effects.

Results: Findings suggested 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.

Conclusion: Overall, the findings suggest that deleterious outcomes related to self-reported TBI during key developmental stages include proximal and long-term adverse psychological effects.