title: Social problem-solving and social adjustment in paediatric traumatic brain injury.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Little is known regarding the predictors of social deficits that occur following childhood traumatic brain injury (TBI). The current study sought to investigate social problem solving (SPS) and its relationship to social adjustment after TBI.
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants included 8-13 year old children, 25 with severe TBI, 57 with complicated mild-to-moderate TBI and 61 with orthopaedic injuries (OI). Children responded to scenarios involving negative social situations by selecting from a fixed set of choices their causal attribution for the event, their emotional reaction to the event and how they would behave in response. Parent ratings of social behaviours and classmate friendship nominations and sociometric ratings were obtained for a sub-set of all participants.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Children with severe TBI were less likely than children with OI to indicate they would attribute external blame or respond by avoiding the antagonist; they were more likely to indicate they would feel sad and request adult intervention. Although several SPS variables had indirect effects on the relationship between TBI and social adjustment, clinical significance was limited.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings suggest that, while children with TBI display atypical SPS skills, SPS cannot be used in isolation to accurately predict social adjustment.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Health , University of California , Los Angeles , CA , USA .
authors.forename: Lisa M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Moran
authors.affiliation: b Department of Psychology , Brigham Young University , Provo, UT, USA .|c Department of Psychiatry , University of Utah , Salt Lake City , UT , USA .
authors.forename: Erin
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bigler
authors.affiliation: d Departments of Psychology and Surgery , University of Toronto , Toronto , ON , Canada .|e Program in Neurosciences and Mental Health, Hospital for Sick Children , Columbus, OH, USA .
authors.forename: Maureen
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dennis
authors.affiliation: f The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital .|g Department of Pediatrics , The Ohio State University College of Medicine, Columbus, OH , USA .
authors.forename: Cynthia A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Gerhardt
authors.affiliation: h Department of Human Development & Quantitative Methodology , University of Maryland , College Park , MD , USA .|i Center for Children, Relationships, & Culture, University of Maryland , College Park , MD , USA .
authors.forename: Kenneth H
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Rubin
authors.affiliation: j Department of Pediatrics , Case Western Reserve University , Cleveland, OH, USA .|k Department of Pediatrics , MetroHealth Medical Center , Cleveland, OH, USA .
authors.forename: Terry
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Stancin
authors.affiliation: j Department of Pediatrics , Case Western Reserve University , Cleveland, OH, USA .|l Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital, University Hospitals Case Medical Center , Cleveland, OH, USA , and.
authors.forename: H Gerry
authors.initials: HG
authors.lastname: Taylor
authors.affiliation: f The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital .|g Department of Pediatrics , The Ohio State University College of Medicine, Columbus, OH , USA .
authors.forename: Kathryn A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Vannatta
authors.affiliation: m Department of Psychology , University of Calgary , Calgary , AB , Canada.
authors.forename: Keith Owen
authors.initials: KO
authors.lastname: Yeates
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological / Q000502:physiology; D000293:Adolescent; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D005544:Forecasting; D033062:Friends; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D009985:Orthopedics; D010290:Parents; D011340:Problem Solving; D012917:Social Adjustment; D012919:Social Behavior; D012938:Social Perception
keywords: Friendship; head trauma; social competence; sociometrics