PARENTAL REPORT OF OCCURRENCES AND CONSEQUENCES OF TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY AMONG DELINQUENT AND NON-DELINQUENT YOUTH

Completed questionnaires from parents of youths attending a public mid dle school or high school and parents of youths admitted to an institu tion for juvenile delinquents provided information about incidents of traumatic brain injury (TBI) in their children. Results revealed that approximately 40% of the non-delinquent youth and 50% of the delinquen t youth had sustained one or more TBIs during their childhood or youth . The majority of injuries appeared to be mild and had no permanent co nsequences. However, the parents of more than one-third of the delinqu ent youth with TBI histories reported long-term effects on academic pe rformance, behaviour and emotional control, activity level, and/or int eractions with friends and family members; parental reports of long-te rm effects occurred significantly less frequently among the non-delinq uent youth. The most common causes of TBI differed between the two ado lescent populations. Non-delinquent youth sustained TBIs most frequent ly from blows to the head during; sporting events, and delinquent yout h sustained TBIs with approximately equal frequency from sporting even ts, falls, motor vehicle accidents, and fights.