Behavioural adjustment and parental stress associated with closed head injury in children

Parental stress and parental perception of children's behavioural problems were determined for 25 caretakers of children with closed head injury. Compared to normative samples a greater proportion of parents in this study were more stressed, and thought that their children were more behaviourally impaired. In contrast to previous studies, injury severity was not related to behavioural impairment. Parental stress was related to perceived behavioural impairment for the brain-injured sample. When compared to low-stressed parents (n = 14), high-stressed parents (n = 11) described their children as more aggressive and with more thought disorders and attention problems. Time since injury, age at injury, number of siblings, and mother's age were not different between the high- and low-stressed groups. Low income and less education were associated with the high stress levels in these parents. Test-retest data showed that, over time, parents perceived their brain-injured children as less behaviourally impaired.