by Rebecca Suzuki, TSS Group Team Member
In one interview after another, women shared stories of injuries to their heads and necks during intimate partner violence (IPV) – injuries that likely disrupted the normal function of the brain. Across interviews, a pattern emerged: survivors often described multiple lifetime injuries that met screening criteria for a likely traumatic brain injury (TBI). The causes of those injuries, though, were varied. Though some were abuse-related, many were not; survivors recalled hurting their head or neck in car accidents, from playing sports, from slipping on ice and tussles on the playground. Many survivors had one thing in common: that their first likely TBI occurred prior to age 18.
As researchers and practitioners have increasingly trained their attention on IPV-related TBI, the interviews made clear that we have another pressing issue to address: How common is IPV among childhood TBI survivors? Does experiencing a childhood TBI increase risk of IPV in adolescence and adulthood?
Prior research sheds light on the urgency of questions about childhood TBI as a potential risk factor for being aggressive in later relationships or being targeted for victimization. Consider this: Rates of lifetime TBI are thought to be at least twice as high among IPV survivors and perpetrators, if not much higher. Furthermore, youth with TBI are more likely to have challenges developing and maintaining peer and intimate relationships.
Despite the potential importance of investigating links between childhood TBI and later risk for IPV, little research has directly done so. TBI researchers have noted that there is a lack of evidence on healthy relationship development among pediatric TBI survivors. IPV researchers have similarly noted that there is limited understanding of the prevalence of childhood TBI in IPV populations, let alone its potential role in long-term relationship outcomes. Further, the data that do exist are from small sample sizes and use a variety of metrics to define TBI (Campbell et al., 2022), thus making it difficult to ascertain accurate prevalence and severity estimates.
A New Study
To address this gap, I am leading a new study looking at the connection between childhood TBI and IPV in young adulthood. This study has two goals. The first is to better understand how common IPV is in young adults with a history of TBI in childhood. The second is investigate how experiencing a TBI in childhood might contribute to the development of unhealthy romantic relationships in young adulthood. Young adults (18-25) who experienced a TBI (including a concussion) before age 13 are invited to participate in a one-time 90-minute interview that can be completed over Zoom or in person here at DU. Participants will complete a series of tasks, interviews, and survey questions that assess history of TBI, psychological wellbeing, experiences with romantic relationships, and cognition.
Why This New Study Matters
Over 2 million youth in the United States have experienced a TBI. That makes the lack of research into how childhood TBI may influence romantic relationship development a major public health gap with serious consequences for violence prevention and intervention efforts. This study will be among the first to directly investigate the connection between childhood TBI and IPV in young adulthood. My hope is that insights from this study will help identify strategies for intervening in the development of unhealthy romantic relationships, ultimately informing treatment and increasing the long-term quality of life for millions of childhood TBI survivors.
Continuing our team’s collaboration with agencies in the Metro area, we hope this study will lead to information that can inform your practice. Stay tuned for findings, which we’ll share here!
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Trauma Research Notes 