Differences in Reporting: The Concussed Student Versus the Concerned Parent

Document Type

Conference Presentation

Department

Health, Exercise, and Sport Sciences Department

Conference Title

American College of Sports Medicine - Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise conference

Organization

American College of Sports Medicine

Location

Minneapolis, MN

Date of Presentation

5-31-2018

Journal Publication

Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise

ISSN

0195-9131

DOI

10.1249/01.mss.0000536642.58187.a5

Volume

50

Issue

5S

First Page

475

Abstract

In the last decade, incidence of sport-related concussion has doubled. Optimal care requires an accurate diagnosis of symptoms and severity. Many student-athletes attempt to disguise symptoms and downplay severity to hasten their return to play. A concerned parent is less likely to participate in the downplaying. An accurate portrayal of symptoms may require both perspectives. Data comparing the reporting by parents and students are needed and limited. PURPOSE: To evaluate differences in the reporting of concussion symptoms between those who suffer them and the parents who observe them. METHODS: Over a 7-year period, 80 students were admitted for psychiatric evaluation owing to persistent post-concussion symptoms. Our study sample consisted of 72 of patients who completed the Behavior Assessment System for Children, 2nd Edition (BASC) as a component of their evaluation. The BASC assesses emotional, social, and behavioral functioning via self-report forms that are completed by adolescents and their parents. There are 13 questions that are unique to adolescents, 18 that are unique to parents, and 7 that are asked in both. The overlapping questions address atypicality, anxiety, depression, somatization, hyperactivity, anger control, and internalizing problems. We performed paired-samples t-tests on these domains to measure equivalence in reporting between students and parents. We used multiple linear regression to identify variables that explained differences in reporting. RESULTS: Student/parent differences were found in atypicality (p=0.002), depression (p=0.012), anger control (p=0.006), and internalizing problems (p=0.017); students reported lower scores in each category. Averaging all 7 categories, parents reported 6.7% higher scores (p=0.031). Sex did not explain this difference (p=0.184), but grade in school was a trending predictor: each additional grade associated with a 1.2-point reduction in parental overestimation (p=0.064). CONCLUSIONS: Following a concussion, adolescents are likely to perceive the severity of emotional, social, and behavioral symptoms more modestly than their parents. The discrepancy was widest among elementary school students, it narrowed in middle and high school, and college students reported symptoms more severely than their parents.

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