Gender differences in learning and memory after pediatric traumatic brain injury.
Thirty boys and 30 girls who sustained a traumatic brain injury (TBI) were evaluated within 1 year post injury with the California Verbal Learning Test-children's Version (CVLT-C; D. C. Delis, J. H. Kramer, E. Kaplan, & B. A. Ober, 1994). Boys had statistically significantly lower performance on the CVLT-C than girls in the absence of statistically significant group differences on various demographic and neurological variables. Although the effect size for this difference was modest (eta2 = .09), gender accounted for a statistically significant amount of the variance (5%) in CVLT-C scores in addition to effects of injury severity and age. It is concluded that male gender is associated with an increased risk for retrieval deficits after pediatric TBI, possibly because of reduced speed or efficiency of information processing.
Donders
Jacobus
J
Mary Free Bed Hospital and Rehabilitation Center, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49503, USA. jdonders@mfbrc.com
Hoffman
Nicole M
NM
D001921:Brain / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D015600:Glasgow Coma Scale; D006801:Humans; D007859:Learning Disabilities / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012737:Sex Factors; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D014706:Verbal Learning