Caregiver education as a protective factor against psychopathology following mild traumatic brain injury in youth.

Purpose: Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) is a common injury in youth, and it has been shown to be related to a host of externalizing and internalizing symptoms. The long-term impact of mTBI may be greater for youth from marginalized backgrounds. Additionally, mental health symptoms present prior to the injury may also affect responses to mTBI in youth.

Methods: The current study utilized cross-sectional and longitudinal data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (n = 1,785) to assess the potential interactive effects of mTBI, Caregiver education (i.e. a SES proxy), and preexisting psychopathology on post-injury externalizing and internalizing psychopathology.

Results and significance: The three factors interacted to predict post-injury externalizing but not internalizing psychopathology. Youth with lower preexisting mental health symptoms who experienced a mTBI were at greater risk for psychopathology than those with higher pre-injury mental health symptoms and non-injured youth. Lower caregiver education was found to be a risk factor for greater increases in externalizing psychopathology following mTBI in youth. As such, stakeholders should be made aware of the possibilities raised by these findings and seek methods for reducing this disparity in outcomes for marginalized youth.