Social and behavioural effects of traumatic brain injury in children

Abstract

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is the leading cause of death and permanent disability in children and adolescents. Although cognitive and behavioural effects have now been reported for all degrees of TBI severity in children, other aspects of functioning which might be related (such as psychosocial adjustment), have been neglected. In the present study the social and behavioural effects of TBI were assessed by comparing 27 TBI children with 27 controls. TBI children demonstrated significantly lower levels of self-esteem and adaptive behaviour, and higher levels of loneliness, maladaptive behaviour and aggressive/antisocial behaviour. These findings confirm the previously demonstrated detrimental effects of TBI on children's behavioural functioning and offer new evidence for the detrimental effects of TBI on children's social functioning.

Self-Esteem in Children and Adolescents After Septic Shock Caused by Neisseria meningitidis: Scars Do Matter

“…Self-esteem was measured with the Dutch versions [22,23] of Harter's Self-Perception Profile for Children (SPP-C) (for ages 8 -11) [21] and Harter's Self-Perception Profile for Adolescents (SPP-A) (for ages [12][13][14][15][16][17] [7]. The questionnaires consist of 36 (for SPP-C) and 40 (for SPP-A) items, which are distributed over five domain-specific subscales and one global self-worth subscale (Tables 1 and 2).…”

“…Lower and higher outcomes of self-esteem were found in burn patients 1-17 years postburn [19,20]. In almost all studies cited above the Harter Self-Perception Profiles for Children (SPP-C) [21] and/or the Harter Self-Perception Profiles for Adolescents (SPP-A) [7] were used (with few exceptions [14,17]). …”

Social Competence at 6 Months Following Childhood Traumatic Brain Injury

“…Deficits include reductions in self-esteem and adaptive behavior as well as behavioral problems (Andrews, Rose, & Johnson, 1998;Fletcher, Ewing-Cobbs, Miner, Levin, & Eisenberg, 1990;Levin, Hanten, Li, 2009;Max et al, 1998;Poggi et al, 2005;Yeates et al, 2004), with some evidence that more severe TBI is linked to greater impairment in socialization, communication, and social competence (Asarnow, Satz, Light, Lewis, & Neumann, 1991;Fletcher et al, 1990;Max et al, 1998).…”

Educational professionals’ understanding of childhood traumatic brain injury

“…For example, children who experience problems with disinhibition, irritability, frustration and demanding behaviour 19 can find the establishment of peer relationships extremely challenging 20 . Children with brain injuries may suffer from loneliness, low self-esteem and display aggressive behaviour 21 . The lack of a supportive social network at school may result in children dropping out of school and exposure to criminality 22 .…”