Abstract
Traumatic brain injury is a common cause of acquired disability in childhood. While much is known about cognitive sequelae of brain trauma, gender-specific social-emotional problems in children with mild traumatic brain injury is far less understood. The aims of the study were to investigate gender differences in social-emotional behavior before and after mild traumatic brain injury. Thirty-five 3- to 65-month-old children with mild traumatic brain injury and 70 controls were assessed with Ages and Stages Questionnaires: Social-Emotional. Nine months later, 27 of 35 patients and 54 of 70 controls were reassessed. We found that before injury, boys had more self-regulation and autonomy difficulties and girls had problems with adaptive functioning. Nine months after injury, boys continued to struggle with self-regulation and autonomy and new difficulties with interaction had emerged, whereas in girls, problems in interaction had evolved. Even mild traumatic brain injury in early childhood disrupts normal social-emotional development having especially devastating influence on interaction skills.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 860-867 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Journal of child neurology |
Volume | 30 |
Issue number | 7 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jun 4 2015 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- childhood mild traumatic brain injury
- gender differences
- interaction skills
- risk factors
- social-emotional behavior
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Pediatrics, Perinatology, and Child Health
- Clinical Neurology