Childhood Traumatic Brain Injury as a Risk Factor for Adolescent Delinquent Behavior
Open Access
- Author:
- Mongilio, Jessica
- Graduate Program:
- Criminology
- Degree:
- Master of Arts
- Document Type:
- Master Thesis
- Date of Defense:
- June 08, 2020
- Committee Members:
- Jeremy Staff, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor
Pamela K Wilcox, Committee Member
Diana Fishbein, Committee Member
Thomas Anthony Loughran, IV, Program Head/Chair - Keywords:
- TBI
adolescent delinquency
early-life risk
head injury
criminology - Abstract:
- Some of the most commonly experienced emotional and behavioral issues following a traumatic brain injury (TBI) are increased impulsivity and aggression (Yeates and Taylor 2005), both of which are strongly correlated with criminal behavior (Perron and Howard 2008; Vaughn et al. 2014). The experience of a TBI at any point in the lifespan has the potential to dramatically change subsequent behaviors; however, in conjunction with ongoing neurodevelopment in childhood and adolescence, a TBI that occurs during this key developmental period may be even more detrimental for health risk behaviors (Karver et al. 2012). In particular, childhood TBI might be a serious risk factor for a variety of behavioral changes, including antisocial or delinquent behaviors. Developmental and life-course (DLC) theories of crime suggest that disruptions to normative development—such as those precipitated by TBI—during childhood increase risk for later criminal behavior (Farrington 2006; Moffitt 1993; Moffitt and Caspi 2001). Alternatively, childhood TBI and adolescent delinquent behavior could share several early-life risk factors, such as maternal substance use during pregnancy or childhood conduct disorder—that would confound the proposed relationship by increasing the risk for both TBI and delinquent behavior. Although research consistently finds associations between TBI and criminality, much is not known about the nature of the relationship, including whether the relation is spurious or differs by sex. In this thesis, nationally representative prospective data from the UK Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) are used to examine the relationship between early-life risk factors, TBI, and delinquent behavior for both males and females. Results appear to be consistent with DLC theories of crime, in that childhood TBI is significantly associated with early onset delinquency (age 11) but not with onset of more adolescent-typical delinquency (age 14). However, childhood TBI is significantly associated with participation in a greater variety of delinquent behaviors at age 14 and sustained delinquent behavior from age 11 to age 14 years. These results suggest that TBI may be predictive of early onset and more serious delinquent behavior in adolescence but not relatively minor or normative delinquent behavior. Additional exploratory analyses are conducted to explore nuance and motivate future research of these relationships.