The Association Between Teen Dating Violence and Concussion

In adults, intimate partner violence victimization and traumatic brain injuries, including concussion, are strongly connected. However, no prior research has explored this association among youth. This study explores the association between teen dating violence (TDV) and concussion to inform clinical care for these at-risk groups.

We used data from ninth and 10th grade youth in the 2017/18 Health Behavior in School-Aged Children nationally representative Canadian dataset (N = 2,926). TDV in the past 12 months was measured using three items for victimization and three for perpetration. Youth were asked if they had been told by a doctor or nurse that they had had a concussion in the past 12 months and where they were and what they were doing when they had the concussion. We used coarsened exact matching to create equivalent groups of TDV victims and nonvictims, and then explored the association between TDV and concussion using doubly robust logistic regression models. We also explored effect modification by gender.

TDV was related to higher odds of concussion, both overall and when restricted to nonsport settings. In nonsport settings, youth who reported mutual TDV reported the highest odds of past-year concussion (adjusted odds ratio = 2.14, 95% confidence interval: 1.07, 4.28, p = .032). We also found that girls and nonbinary youth reported elevated risk of concussion in the context of TDV.

We found that TDV was associated with increased risk for concussion. Findings can be used to inform future research and may assist adolescent health providers who treat youth with concussion.