@article{ref1,
title="Psychological predictors of mental health difficulties after pediatric concussion",
journal="Journal of neurotrauma",
year="2024",
author="Gornall, Alice and Takagi, Michael and Clarke, Cathriona and Babl, Franz and Cheng, Nicholas and Davis, Gavin A. and Dunne, Kevin and Anderson, Nicholas and Hearps, Stephen J. C. and Rausa, Vanessa C. and Anderson, Vicki",
volume="ePub",
number="ePub",
pages="ePub-ePub",
abstract="Children often experience mental health difficulties after a concussion. Yet, the extent to which a concussion precipitates or exacerbates mental health difficulties remains unclear. This study aimed to examine psychological predictors of mental health difficulties after pediatric concussion. Children (aged 5 to <18 years, M=11.7, SD=3.3) with concussion were recruited in a single-site longitudinal prospective cohort study conducted at a tertiary children's hospital (n=115, 73.9% male). The primary outcomes included internalizing (anxious, depressed, withdrawn behaviors), externalizing (risk-taking, aggression, attention difficulties), and total mental health problems, as measured by the Child Behavior Checklist at two weeks (acute) and three months (post-acute) after concussion. Predictors included parents' retrospective reports of premorbid concussive symptoms (Post-Concussion Symptom Inventory; PCSI), the child and their family's psychiatric history, child-rated perfectionism (Adaptive-Maladaptive Perfectionism Scale), and child-rated resilience (Youth Resilience Measure). Higher premorbid PCSI ratings consistently predicted acute and post-acute mental health difficulties. This relationship was significantly moderated by child psychiatric history. Furthermore, pre-injury learning difficulties, child psychiatric diagnoses, family psychiatric history, lower resilience, previous concussions, female sex, and older age at injury were associated with greater mental health difficulties after concussion. Pre-injury factors accounted for 23.4-39.9% of acute mental health outcomes, and 32.3-37.8% of post-acute mental health outcomes. When acute mental health was factored into the model, a total of 47.0%-68.8% of variance was explained by the model. Overall, in this sample of children, several pre-injury demographic and psychological factors were observed to predict mental health difficulties after a concussion. These findings need to be validated in future research involving larger, multi-site studies that include a broader cohort of children after concussion.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0897-7151",
doi="10.1089/neu.2023.0116",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1089/neu.2023.0116"
}