Search

Objective:To examine the impact of early traumatic brain injury (TBI) on effortful control (EC) over time and the relationship of EC and executive functioning (EF) to long-term functional and social outcomes.Method:Parents of children (N = 206, ages 3–7) with moderate-to-severe TBI or orthopedic injuries (OIs) rated EC using the Child Behavior Questionnaire at 1 (pre-injury), 6, 12, and 18 months post-injury. Child functioning and social competence were assessed at 7 years post-injury. Mixed models examined the effects of injury, time since injury, and their interaction on EC. General linear models examined the associations of pre-injury EC and EC at 18 months with long-term functional and social outcomes. Models controlled for EF to assess the unique contribution of EC to outcomes.Results:Children with severe TBI had significantly lower EC than both the OI and moderate TBI groups at each post-injury time point. Both pre-injury and 18-month EC were associated with long-term outcomes. Among those with low EC at baseline, children with moderate and severe TBI had more functional impairment than those with OI; however, no group differences were noted at high levels of EC. EC had main effects on parent-reported social competence that did not vary by injury type.Conclusions:Findings suggest that EC is sensitive to TBI effects and is a unique predictor of functional outcomes, independent of EF. High EC could serve as a protective factor, and as such measures of EC could be used to identify children for more intensive intervention.

Objectives:The current study examines whether psychosocial outcomes following pediatric traumatic brain injury (TBI) vary as a function of children’s rejection sensitivity (RS), defined as their disposition to be hypersensitive to cues of rejection from peers.Methods:Children ages 8–13 with a history of severe TBI (STBI,n=16), complicated mild/moderate TBI (n=35), or orthopedic injury (OI,n=49) completed measures assessing self-esteem and RS on average 3.28 years post-injury (SD=1.33, range=1.25–6.34). Parents reported on their child’s emotional and behavioral functioning and social participation.Results:Regression analyses found moderation of group differences by RS for three outcomes: social participation, self-perceptions of social acceptance, and externalizing behavior problems. Conditional effects at varying levels of RS indicated that externalizing problems and social participation were significantly worse for children with STBI at high levels of RS, compared to children with OI. Social participation for the STBI group remained significantly lower than the OI group at mean levels of RS, but not at low levels of RS. At high levels of RS, self-perceptions of social acceptance were lower for children with moderate TBI compared to OI, but group differences were not significant at mean or low levels of RS. No evidence of moderation was found for global self-worth, self-perceptions of physical appearance or athletic ability, or internalizing problems.Conclusions:The findings highlight the salient nature of social outcomes in the context of varying levels of RS. These findings may have implications for the design of interventions to improve social outcomes following TBI. (JINS, 2017,23, 451–459)

Facial emotion expresses feelings, but is also a vehicle for social communication. Using five basic emotions (happiness, sadness, fear, disgust, and anger) in a comprehension paradigm, we studied how facial expression reflects inner feelings (emotional expression) but may be socially modulated to communicate a different emotion from the inner feeling (emotive communication, a form of affective theory of mind). Participants were 8- to 12-year-old children with TBI (n = 78) and peers with orthopedic injuries (n = 56). Children with mild–moderate or severe TBI performed more poorly than the OI group, and chose less cognitively sophisticated strategies for emotive communication. Compared to the OI and mild–moderate TBI groups, children with severe TBI had more deficits in anger, fear, and sadness; neutralized emotions less often; produced socially inappropriate responses; and failed to differentiate the core emotional dimension of arousal. Children with TBI have difficulty understanding the dual role of facial emotions in expressing feelings and communicating socially relevant but deceptive emotions, and these difficulties likely contribute to their social problems. (JINS, 2013, 18, 1–10)

Previous studies have documented weaknesses in cognitive ability and early academic readiness in young children with traumatic brain injury (TBI). However, few of these studies have rigorously controlled for demographic characteristics, examined the effects of TBI severity on a wide range of skills, or explored moderating influences of environmental factors on outcomes. To meet these objectives, each of three groups of children with TBI (20 with severe, 64 with moderate, and 15 with mild) were compared with a group of 117 children with orthopedic injuries (OI group). The children were hospitalized for their injuries between 3 and 6 years of age and were assessed an average of 1½ months post injury. Analysis revealed generalized weaknesses in cognitive and school readiness skills in the severe TBI group and less pervasive effects of moderate TBI. Indices of TBI severity predicted outcomes within the TBI sample and environmental factors moderated the effects of TBI on some measures. The findings document adverse effects of TBI in early childhood on postacute cognitive and school readiness skills and indicate that these effects are related to both injury severity and the family environment. (JINS, 2008,14, 734–745.)

The social outcomes of pediatric traumatic brain injury (TBI) were examined in a prospective, longitudinal study that included 53 children with severe TBI, 56 with moderate TBI, and 80 with orthopedic injuries, recruited between 6 and 12 years of age. Child and family functioning were assessed at baseline, at 6- and 12-month follow-ups, and at an extended follow-up a mean of 4 years post injury. Growth curve analyses revealed that pediatric TBI yields negative social outcomes that are exacerbated by family environments characterized by lower socioeconomic status, fewer family resources, and poorer family functioning. After controlling for group membership, age, race, socioeconomic status, and IQ, path analyses indicated that long-term social outcomes were accounted for in part by specific neurocognitive skills, including executive functions and pragmatic language, and by social problem-solving. Deficits in these domains among children with TBI are likely to reflect damage to a network of brain regions that have been implicated in social cognition.