title: Does gender matter? Differences in social-emotional behavior among infants and toddlers before and after mild traumatic brain injury: a preliminary study.
abstract: Traumatic brain injury is a common cause of acquired disability in childhood. While much is known about cognitive sequelae of brain trauma, gender-specific social-emotional problems in children with mild traumatic brain injury is far less understood. The aims of the study were to investigate gender differences in social-emotional behavior before and after mild traumatic brain injury. Thirty-five 3- to 65-month-old children with mild traumatic brain injury and 70 controls were assessed with Ages and Stages Questionnaires: Social-Emotional. Nine months later, 27 of 35 patients and 54 of 70 controls were reassessed. We found that before injury, boys had more self-regulation and autonomy difficulties and girls had problems with adaptive functioning. Nine months after injury, boys continued to struggle with self-regulation and autonomy and new difficulties with interaction had emerged, whereas in girls, problems in interaction had evolved. Even mild traumatic brain injury in early childhood disrupts normal social-emotional development having especially devastating influence on interaction skills.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychology, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia Institute of Psychology, Tallinn University, Tallinn, Estonia Psychiatry Clinic, Tallinn Children's Hospital, Tallinn, Estonia mari-liis.kaldoja@ut.ee.
authors.forename: Mari-Liis
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Kaldoja
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology and Neurorehabilitation, Children's Clinic, Tartu University Hospital, Tartu, Estonia. Department of Pediatrics, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia.
authors.forename: Anneli
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kolk
mesh_terms: D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000523:psychology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D012919:Social Behavior; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: childhood mild traumatic brain injury; gender differences; interaction skills.; risk factors; social-emotional behavior