• Stacey E Woodrome, Keith Owen Yeates, H Gerry Taylor, Jerome Rusin, Barbara Bangert, Ann Dietrich, Kathryn Nuss, and Martha Wright.
• Department of Neuropsychology, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
• J Int Neuropsychol Soc. 2011 Mar 1; 17 (2): 317-26.

AbstractThis study examined whether children's coping strategies are related to post-concussive symptoms following mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) versus orthopedic injury (OI). Participants were 8- to 15-year-old children with mild TBI (n = 167) or OI (n = 84). They rated their current preferred coping strategies and post-injury symptoms at 2 weeks (baseline) and 1, 3, and 12 months post-injury. Children's reported use of coping strategies did not vary significantly over time, so their baseline coping ratings were examined as predictors of post-concussive symptoms across time. Self-ratings of symptoms were positively related to emotion-focused strategies and negatively related to problem-focused engagement after both mild TBI and OI. Higher problem-focused disengagement predicted larger group differences in children's ratings of symptoms, suggesting that problem-focused disengagement moderates the effects of mild TBI. Coping strategies collectively accounted for approximately 10-15% of the variance in children's post-concussive symptoms over time. The findings suggest that coping may play an important role in accounting for children's perceptions of post-concussive symptoms after mild TBI.

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