Mild Traumatic Brain Injury as a Transdiagnostic Risk Factor for Internalizing and Externalizing Psychopathology

• In Event: Recent Developments in Biosocial Research on Head Injury, Offending, and Victimization

Abstract

Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) among youth is a growing public health concern. Existing research suggests that mTBI may lead to a range of psychological and behavioral symptoms. Recent evidence suggests that symptoms following a mTBI appear to cross the internalizing-externalizing spectrum; that is, mTBI may act as a transdiagnostic risk factor for the development of psychopathology. In the current study, we analyze longitudinal data from 2,748 youth from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods. Latent class analyses are used first to identify comorbid classes of psychopathology based on depressive, anxious, aggressive, and delinquency symptomatology. Next, mTBI is included as a predictor of membership into one or more of the identified classes. Results have important implications for medical providers and parents/caregivers of youth who experience a mTBI. Specifically, the reported findings will aid in informing key stake holders of the possible clusters of mental health symptomatology linked to adolescent mTBI, allowing for early intervention.

Authors

• Brandon McCormick, University of Alabama

• Eric Connolly, Sam Houston State University

• David Nelson, Sam Houston State University