Behavioral Regulation Changes in Adolescents with Mild Traumatic Brain Injury

Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI) sustained during adolescence commonly leads to executive dysfunction. This study investigated executive function changes noted in adolescents (age of injury between 14 and 18 years) who had sustained an mTBI three months to two years prior to study enrollment (n = 7). The study compared both their pre-injury (T1) and post-injury performance (T2) and the performance of an uninjured gender-matched control group (n = 7) using the Behavioral Regulation Inventory for Executive Function: Parent Form (BRIEF-P). Results indicated heterogeneity within the behavioral regulation components of the BRIEF-P for the mTBI group with no overall within group effects between T1 and T2. Although there were few statistically significant differences between the two groups BRIEF-P scores, there is clear evidence that these children are still suffering from concussion symptoms indicating a need for more sensitive measures for this population.