• Anna H Hung, Amy Cassedy, Hanna M Schultz, Keith Owen Yeates, Hudson Gerry Taylor, Terry Stancin, Nicolay Chertkoff Walz, and Shari L Wade.
• *Department of Psychology, Miami University, Oxford, OH; †Division of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH; ‡Division of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH; §Departments of Psychology, Pediatrics, and Clinical Neurosciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada; ‖Department of Pediatrics, University Hospitals of Cleveland, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH; ¶Department of Pediatrics, Case Western Reserve University and MetroHealth Medical Center, Cleveland, OH; **Division of Behavioral Medicine and Clinical Psychology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH. Dr Hung is now at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry.
• J Dev Behav Pediatr. 2017 Jan 1; 38 (1): 49-57.

ObjectivePediatric traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) adversely affect long-term functional and social outcomes. Limited research suggests children with TBI are more likely to be victimized by peers than noninjured children. Deficits in social information processing (SIP), cognitive ability, and executive functioning (EF) may contribute to increased victimization risk. This study examined rates of peer victimization/bullying in children with early TBI compared with children with orthopedic injuries (OIs) and the role of processing speed, executive function (EF), and SIP as mediators of the association of TBI and peer victimization.MethodChildren ages 10 to 14 years who sustained a complicated mild/moderate or severe TBI (N = 58) or OI (N = 72) during early childhood (ages 3-7 yr) and their parents participated in a longitudinal prospective follow-up 6.8 years postinjury. SIP, EF and processing speed, and peer victimization were assessed.ResultsParents of children with severe TBI reported greater rates of peer victimization than parents of children with OIs. Children with severe TBI demonstrated greater EF deficits than children with complicated mild/moderate TBI or OI and poorer processing speed than children with OI. No significant indirect relationships were found between groups and any outcome variables to indicate mediation.ConclusionBased on parent report, children with severe TBI have higher risk of peer victimization than those with less severe injuries. In addition, children with severe TBI have more impaired EF and cognitive ability than counterparts with less severe TBI. Further research is needed to explore predictors of long-term victimization after early TBI to create interventions aimed at providing social, emotional, and behavioral skill building for victimized youth.

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