Date of Award

5-2027

Document Type

Doctoral Research Project

Degree Name

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Radhika Krishnamurthy

Second Advisor

Scott Gustafson

Third Advisor

Ted Petersen

Fourth Advisor

Lisa A. Steelman

Abstract

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) sustained during critical periods of early development has wide-ranging effects on cognitive, emotional, and behavioral adjustment that may persist into adulthood. Within the forensic population, there is a clear overrepresentation of head trauma. Although research publications have examined the impacts of TBI on psychological challenges within the general population, limited research has explored its relationship with impulsivity, behavioral disorders, and adverse outcomes in an adult incarcerated population. The purpose of this study was to examine the associations between age of first TBI, severity of TBI, and frequency of TBIs in childhood and adolescence and indices of impulsivity, behavioral disorders, and adverse outcomes in adulthood in an incarcerated male sample (N = 65). This sample was sourced from a community-based correctional facility located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States between February 2014 and April 2015. Measures included the Ohio State University Traumatic Brain Injury Identification Method (OSU TBI-ID), Barkley Adult ADHD Rating Scale (BAARS-IV; impulsivity scores), Structured Interview for DSM-IV Axis II Personality Disorders (SCID-II), and prison record data. Results found that earlier age of TBI were significantly correlated with a higher number of parole violations in adulthood, with a large effect size. Results from ANOVA and chi square analyses found that multiple TBIs were associated with an increased likelihood of meeting diagnostic criteria for Conduct Disorder, both of which demonstrated a medium effect size. Results found that severity of TBI, specifically TBI with loss of consciousness (LOC) was significantly associated with a higher number of adult convictions with a medium effect size. These results suggest that TBI sustained during critical periods of development do have some impact on longitudinal behavioral dysfunction seen in adulthood, although this impact was not as pronounced as anticipated. It is noted that other nonsignificant trends provide direction for further examination in other studies and that additional factors not explored in this study may obscure the true impact of TBIs over the lifespan of an individual. The implications of these results of this study are discussed.

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