Association Between Self-Reported Traumatic Brain Injury and Threat/Control-Override

Abstract

Prior research has focused on the effects of traumatic brain injury (TBI), psychosis, and threat/control-override (TCO) on violent behavior. There is, however, a lack of research exploring the potential connection between traumatic brain injury (TBI) and TCO. This study is designed to partially address this gap in the literature. To do so, a sample of delinquent youths followed to early adulthood is examined to estimate if self-reported TBI is associated with the development of TCO symptomatology. The results indicate that, although there is an association between TBI and psychoticism, TBI was not significantly associated with TCO, net of other variables in both longitudinal and cross-sectional analyses. The results suggest, however, that paranoid ideation and psychoticism consistently predict TCO. Finally, the findings indicate that TCO does not consistently mediate the relationship between TBI and violent crime.

Keywords:

• Head injury
• TBI
• threat/control-override (TCO)
• psychosis

Notes

1 Question: “In the past N months, have you had a head injury where you lost consciousness (were knocked out or passed out) or where you needed medical treatment (e.g. stitches)?” (Mulvey & Schubert, n.d.)

2 Analyses available upon request