Abstract
Exposure to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) is a significant public health issue for youth. However, traumatic brain injury (TBI) has been almost entirely overlooked in the ACEs and health outcomes literature, which has largely focused on the significant mental and behavioral health impact of ACEs. The goal the current study is to examine the association between ACEs and TBI among a nationally representative sample of adolescents in the United States and the extent to which ADHD and conduct problems inform this association. To assess this relationship, we use a sample of 42,204 adolescents (ages 12–17 years) in the United States whose caregivers were surveyed during the three most recent cohorts (2016–2018) of the National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH). The results revealed a dose–response relationship between ACEs and TBI, even after accounting for an array of confounding variables. Findings also indicated that associations were of a greater magnitude among youth who are not sports-involved. Supplemental mediation analyses showed that ADHD and conduct problems attenuated associations between ACE exposure and TBI, but only in the absence of youth sports involvement. Given that both ACEs and TBI carry long-term consequences for health and well-being, the findings from this study draw attention to the need for early intervention and prevention programming (e.g. home visiting) that can reduce the prevalence of ACEs and a history of TBI among adolescents.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Dube SR (2018) Continuing conversations about adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) screening: a public health perspective. Child Abuse Negl 85:180–184
Bethell CD, Carle A, Hudziak J, Gombojav N, Powers K, Wade R, Braveman P (2017) Methods to assess adverse childhood experiences of children and families: toward approaches to promote child well-being in policy and practice. Acad Pediatr 17(7):S51-69
Kajeepeta S, Gelaye B, Jackson CL, Williams MA (2015) Adverse childhood experiences are associated with adult sleep disorders: a systematic review. Sleep Med 16(3):320–330
Holman DM, Ports KA, Buchanan ND, Hawkins NA, Merrick MT, Metzler M, Trivers KF (2016) The association between adverse childhood experiences and risk of cancer in adulthood: a systematic review of the literature. Pediatrics 138(Supplement 1):S81-91
Su S, Jimenez MP, Roberts CT, Loucks EB (2015) The role of adverse childhood experiences in cardiovascular disease risk: a review with emphasis on plausible mechanisms. Curr Cardiol Rep 17(10):88
Swedo EA, Sumner SA, de Fijter S, Werhan L, Norris K, Beauregard JL, Montgomery MP, Rose EB, Hillis SD, Massetti GM (2020) Adolescent opioid misuse attributable to adverse childhood experiences. J Pediatr 224:102–109.e3
Jackson DB, Chilton M, Johnson KR, Vaughn MG (2019) Adverse childhood experiences and household food insecurity: findings from the 2016 National Survey of Children’s Health. Am J Prev Med 57(5):667–674
Testa A, Jackson DB (2020) Adverse childhood experiences and food insecurity in adulthood: evidence from the national longitudinal study of adolescent to adult health. J Adolesc Health 67(2):218–224
Craig JM, Piquero AR, Farrington DP, Ttofi MM (2017) A little early risk goes a long bad way: adverse childhood experiences and life-course offending in the Cambridge study. J Crim Just 53:34–45
Hughes K, Bellis MA, Hardcastle KA, Sethi D, Butchart A, Mikton C, Jones L, Dunne MP (2017) The effect of multiple adverse childhood experiences on health: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Lancet Public Health 2(8):e356–e366
Felde AB, Westermeyer J, Thuras P (2006) Co-morbid traumatic brain injury and substance use disorder: childhood predictors and adult correlates. Brain Inj 20(1):41–49
Guinn AS, Ports KA, Ford DC, Breiding M, Merrick MT (2019) Associations between adverse childhood experiences and acquired brain injury, including traumatic brain injuries, among adults: 2014 BRFSS North Carolina. Inj Prev 25(6):514–520
Chrisman SP, Richardson LP (2014) Prevalence of diagnosed depression in adolescents with history of concussion. J Adolesc Health 54(5):582–586
Di Battista A, Godfrey C, Soo C, Catroppa C, Anderson V (2014) Depression and health related quality of life in adolescent survivors of a traumatic brain injury: a pilot study. PLoS ONE 9(7):e101842
O’Connor SS, Zatzick DF, Wang J, Temkin N, Koepsell TD, Jaffe KM, Durbin D, Vavilala MS, Dorsch A, Rivara FP (2012) Association between posttraumatic stress, depression, and functional impairments in adolescents 24 months after traumatic brain injury. J Trauma Stress 25(3):264–271
Ilie G, Mann RE, Boak A, Adlaf EM, Hamilton H, Asbridge M, Rehm J, Cusimano MD (2014) Suicidality, bullying and other conduct and mental health correlates of traumatic brain injury in adolescents. PLoS ONE 9(4):e94936
Luukkainen S, Riala K, Laukkanen M, Hakko H, Räsänen P (2012) Association of traumatic brain injury with criminality in adolescent psychiatric inpatients from Northern Finland. Psychiatry Res 200(2–3):767–772
Connolly EJ, McCormick BF (2019) Mild traumatic brain injury and psychopathology in adolescence: evidence from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods. J Adolesc Health 65(1):79–85
Daigle LE, Harris MN (2018) Recurring victimization: What role does head injury play? J Crim Just 58:78–86
Di Battista A, Soo C, Catroppa C, Anderson V (2012) Quality of life in children and adolescents post-TBI: a systematic review and meta-analysis. J Neurotrama 29(9):1717–1727
Sariaslan A, Sharp DJ, D’Onofrio BM, Larsson H, Fazel S (2016) Long-term outcomes associated with traumatic brain injury in childhood and adolescence: a nationwide Swedish cohort study of a wide range of medical and social outcomes. PLoS Med 13(8):e1002103
Ayton D, Pritchard E, Tsindos T (2019) Acquired brain injury in the context of family violence: a systematic scoping review of incidence, prevalence, and contributing factors. Trauma Violence Abus 16:1524838018821951
Babad S, Zwilling A, Carson KW, Fairchild V, Razak S, Robinson G, Nikulina V (2019) Risk-taking propensity and sensation seeking in survivors of adverse childhood experiences. J Interpers Violence 20:0886260519876035
Brown NM, Brown SN, Briggs RD, Germán M, Belamarich PF, Oyeku SO (2017) Associations between adverse childhood experiences and ADHD diagnosis and severity. Acad Pediatr 17(4):349–355
Jimenez ME, Wade R Jr, Schwartz-Soicher O, Lin Y, Reichman NE (2017) Adverse childhood experiences and ADHD diagnosis at age 9 years in a national urban sample. Acad Pediatr 17(4):356–361
Afifi TO, McMillan KA, Asmundson GJ, Pietrzak RH, Sareen J (2011) An examination of the relation between conduct disorder, childhood and adulthood traumatic events, and posttraumatic stress disorder in a nationally representative sample. J Psychiatr Res 45(12):1564–1572
Liou YJ, Wei HT, Chen MH, Hsu JW, Huang KL, Bai YM, Su TP, Li CT, Yang AC, Tsai SJ, Lin WC (2018) Risk of traumatic brain injury among children, adolescents, and young adults with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder in Taiwan. J Adolesc Health 63(2):233–238
Kraus JF (1995) Epidemiological features of brain injury in children: occurrence, children at risk, causes and manner of injury, severity, and outcomes. In: Broman SH, Michel ME (eds) Traumatic head injury in children. Oxford University Press, New York, pp 22–39
Asemota AO, George BP, Bowman SM, Haider AH, Schneider EB (2013) Causes and trends in traumatic brain injury for United States adolescents. J Neurotrauma 30(2):67–75
McKinlay A, Grace RC, Horwood LJ, Fergusson DM, Ridder EM, MacFarlane MR (2008) Prevalence of traumatic brain injury among children, adolescents and young adults: prospective evidence from a birth cohort. Brain Inj 22(2):175–181
Connolly EJ, Cooke EM, Beaver KM, Brown W (2020) Do developmental changes in impulsivity and sensation seeking uniquely predict violent victimization? A test of the dual systems model. J Crim Just 66:101639
Pulkkinen L, Hamalainen M (1995) Low self-control as a precursor to crime and accidents in a Finnish longitudinal study. Crim Behav Ment Health 5(4):424–438
Rowe R, Simonoff E, Silberg JL (2007) Psychopathology, temperament and unintentional injury: Cross-sectional and longitudinal relationships. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 48(1):71–79
Ruiz-Goikoetxea M, Cortese S, Aznarez-Sanado M, Magallon S, Zallo NA, Luis EO, de Castro-Manglano P, Soutullo C, Arrondo G (2018) Risk of unintentional injuries in children and adolescents with ADHD and the impact of ADHD medications: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 84:63–71
Turanovic JJ, Reisig MD, Pratt TC (2015) Risky lifestyles, low self-control, and violent victimization across gendered pathways to crime. J Quant Criminol 31(2):183–206
Kittel-Schneider S, Wolff S, Queiser K, Wessendorf L, Meier AM, Verdenhalven M, Brunkhorst-Kanaan N, Grimm O, McNeill R, Grabow S, Reimertz C (2019) Prevalence of ADHD in accident victims: results of the PRADA study. J Clin Med 8(10):1643
Bloom DR, Levin HS, Ewing-Cobbs L, Saunders AE, Song J, Fletcher JM, Kowatch RA (2001) Lifetime and novel psychiatric disorders after pediatric traumatic brain injury. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 40(5):572–579
Beauchaine TP, Hinshaw SP, Pang KL (2010) Comorbidity of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and early-onset conduct disorder: Biological, environmental, and developmental mechanisms. Clin Psychol 17(4):327–336
Sahler CS, Greenwald BD (2012) Traumatic brain injury in sports: a review. Rehabil Res Pract 2012:659652
Veliz P, Eckner JT, Zdroik J, Schulenberg JE (2019) Lifetime prevalence of self-reported concussion among adolescents involved in competitive sports: a national US study. J Adolesc Health 64(2):272–275
Ghandour RM, Moore KA, Murphy K, Bethell C, Jones JR, Harwood R, Buerlein J, Kogan M, Lu M (2019) School readiness among US children: Development of a pilot measure. Child Indic Res 12(4):1389–1411
Lebrun-Harris LA, Parasuraman SR, Desrocher R (2018) Prevalence of brain injuries among children with special healthcare needs. J Pediatr 200:125–131
Crouch E, Probst JC, Radcliff E, Bennett KJ, McKinney SH (2019) Prevalence of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) among US children. Child Abuse Negl 92:209–218
Lanier P, Maguire-Jack K, Lombardi B, Frey J, Rose RA (2018) Adverse childhood experiences and child health outcomes: comparing cumulative risk and latent class approaches. Matern Child Health J 22(3):288–297
Karlson KB, Holm A, Breen R (2012) Comparing regression coefficients between same-sample nested models using logit and probit: a new method. Sociol Methodol 42(1):286–313
Lalonde G, Bernier A, Beaudoin C, Gravel J, Beauchamp MH (2018) Investigating social functioning after early mild TBI: the quality of parent–child interactions. J Neuropsychol 12(1):1–22
Yarnall KS, Pollak KI, Østbye T, Krause KM, Michener JL (2003) Primary care: is there enough time for prevention? Am J Public Health 93(4):635–641
Eckenrode J, Campa M, Luckey DW, Henderson CR, Cole R, Kitzman H, Anson E, Sidora-Arcoleo K, Powers J, Olds D (2010) Long-term effects of prenatal and infancy nurse home visitation on the life course of youths: 19-year follow-up of a randomized trial. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 164(1):9–15
Olds DL, Eckenrode J, Henderson CR, Kitzman H, Powers J, Cole R, Sidora K, Morris P, Pettitt LM, Luckey D (1997) Long-term effects of home visitation on maternal life course and child abuse and neglect: fifteen-year follow-up of a randomized trial. JAMA 278(8):637–643
Prasad MR, Swank PR, Ewing-Cobbs L (2017) Long-term school outcomes of children and adolescents with traumatic brain injury. J Head Trauma Rehabil 32(1):E24
Reuben A, Moffitt TE, Caspi A, Belsky DW, Harrington H, Schroeder F, Hogan S, Ramrakha S, Poulton R, Danese A (2016) Lest we forget: comparing retrospective and prospective assessments of adverse childhood experiences in the prediction of adult health. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 57(10):1103–1112
Acknowledgement
Chad Posick would like to thank the Provost Office at Georgia Southern University for their support of this research during his educational leave.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.
Electronic supplementary material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Jackson, D.B., Posick, C., Vaughn, M.G. et al. Adverse childhood experiences and traumatic brain injury among adolescents: findings from the 2016–2018 National Survey of Children’s Health. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry 31, 289–297 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-020-01687-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-020-01687-1