Resilience and symptom reporting following mild traumatic brain injury in military service members

Victoria C. MerrittThe Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA, Correspondence[email protected]

Rael T. LangeDefense and Veterans Brain Injury Center, Bethesda, MD, USA, ;Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Bethesda, MD, USA, ;University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada, ;Center for Neuroscience and Regenerative Medicine, Bethesda, MD, USA, and

Louis M. FrenchDefense and Veterans Brain Injury Center, Bethesda, MD, USA, ;Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Bethesda, MD, USA, ;Center for Neuroscience and Regenerative Medicine, Bethesda, MD, USA, and ;Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD, USA

Abstract

Primary objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between resilience and symptom reporting following mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). It was hypothesized that, as resilience increases, self-reported symptoms would decrease.

Research design: Cross-sectional design.

Methods and procedures: Participants were 142 US military service members who sustained a mTBI, divided into three resilience groups based on participants’ responses on the Response to Stressful Experiences Scale: Moderate (n = 42); High (n = 51); and Very High (n = 49). Participants completed the Neurobehavioral Symptom Inventory (NSI) and PTSD Checklist–Civilian Version (PCL-C) within 12 months following injury.

Main outcomes and results: There were significant main effects for the NSI total score, cognitive cluster and affective cluster, as well as for the PCL-C total score, avoidance cluster and hyperarousal cluster. Pairwise comparisons revealed that there was a negative relationship between resilience and self-reported symptoms overall. Specifically, participants with higher resilience reported fewer post-concussion and PTSD-related symptoms than participants with lower levels of resilience.

Conclusions: These findings underscore the important role that resilience plays in symptom expression in military service members with mTBI and suggest that research on targeted interventions to increase resilience in the acute phase following injury is indicated.

Keywords

Declaration of interest

The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not reflect the official policy of the Department of Defence or US Government. The authors report no conflicts of interest.

Notes

†The uncomplicated and equivocal mTBI groups were compared on demographic variables and no significant group differences were found.

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Resilience and symptom reporting following mild traumatic brain injury in military service members

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Resilience and symptom reporting following mild traumatic brain injury in military service members

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