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Abstract
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OBJECTIVE: This study examines sex differences in social inferencing deficits after traumatic brain injury (TBI), and examines the odds of males and females being impaired while controlling for potential confounders.
DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey. SETTING: Outpatient.USA and a University in Canada. PARTICIPANTS: One hundred five participants with TBI (60 males, 45 females) and 105 healthy controls (HC; 57 males, 48 females). INTERVENTIONS: Not applicable. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The Awareness of Social Inference Test (TASIT), which includes 1) Emotional Evaluation Test (EET), 2) Social Inference-Minimal (SI-M) test, and 3) Social Inference-Enriched (SI-E) test.
RESULTS: Within the HC sample, males and females performed similarly on all three TASIT subtests. Within the TBI group, males had significantly lower scores than females on EET (P = 0.03), SI-M (P=0.01) and SI-E (P=0.04). Using impairment cutoffs derived from the HC sample, significantly more males with TBI (30%) were impaired on the EET than females(16.7%); impairment was similar between males and females on SI-M and SI-E. When adjusting for executive functioning and education, the odds of being impaired on the EET did not significantly differ for males and females (OR = 0.47; 95% CI: 0.16 - 1.40; P = 0.18).
CONCLUSIONS: While more males with TBI have emotion perception deficits than females, the difference appears to be driven by education and executive functioning. Research is needed in larger samples with more definitive norms to better understand social inferencing impairments in males and females with TBI, and translation to interpersonal behaviors.
Language: en |