Citation

Andersson MJ, Kapetanovic S, Håkansson A, Claesdotter-Knutsson E. BMC Psychol. 2024; 12(1): e329.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2024, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group - BMC)

DOI

10.1186/s40359-024-01830-6

PMID

38840182

PMCID

PMC11151717

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Sustaining multiple concussions over one's lifetime may be associated with behavioral and mood changes beyond the acute phase of injury. The present cross-sectional study examined the relationship between concussion history, the incidence of current moderate-severe psychological distress, and lifetime adolescent hazardous gambling in high school students.

METHODS: Four-hundred fifty-nine high school students from southern Sweden (age: 16.81 ± 0.83, 58.2% male) completed a survey assessing concussion history (0,1,2…>8), psychological distress using the Kessler-6 scale, and lifetime hazardous gambling using the NODS-CLiP scale.

RESULTS: Participants who self-reported three or more concussions were more likely to endorse moderate-severe symptoms of psychological distress than those with no concussion history while controlling for covariates, OR = 2.71, 95% CI [1.19, 6.18]. In contrast, concussion history was not associated with hazardous gambling after controlling for confounding variables.

CONCLUSIONS: Self-reporting three or more concussions was associated with increased current psychological distress beyond the acute phase of injury among high school students. Adolescents who have sustained multiple concussions should undergo mental health evaluations beyond the acute phase of injury to identify and treat psychological distress, but probing for hazardous gambling may not be clinically relevant in this previously concussed adolescent population.

Language: en

Keywords

Humans; Cross-Sectional Studies; Adolescent Behavior/psychology; Female; Male; Adolescent; Self Report; Adolescence; Sweden/epidemiology; Gambling; Concussion; *Brain Concussion/psychology/epidemiology; *Gambling/psychology/epidemiology; *Psychological Distress; Stress, Psychological/epidemiology/psychology; Students/psychology/statistics & numerical data; Traumatic brain injury, psychological distress