Understanding the Relationship Between Exposure to Violence During Childhood and/or Adulthood, Gross Cognitive Function, and Psychosocial Vulnerabilities Among Justice-Involved Adults with Brain Injuries

Date of Award

8-24-2024

Document Type

Doctoral Research Paper

Degree Name

Psy.D.

Organizational Unit

Graduate School of Professional Psychology

First Advisor

Kim Gorgens

Second Advisor

Gina Signoracci

Third Advisor

Laura Meyer

Keywords

Traumatic brain injury, Violence, Cognitive function, Criminal justice

Abstract

The current study examined the relationship between age of exposure to violence, cognitive function, and psychosocial vulnerabilities among justice-involved persons with a history of traumatic brain injury. Records from 985 people were analyzed from an existing dataset and grouped by the age at which they were victimized by violence. People who were victimized as a child and again as an adult performed poorer on tests of learning, attention/processing speed, working memory, and delayed memory. Analyses were also conducted to see if there was a relationship between exposure to violence and psychosocial vulnerabilities including reported mental illness and substance use histories. People who had never been exposed to violence were less likely to have a history of mental illness. There was no relationship between substance use and exposure to violence; lifetime exposure to violence did not affect the rate of reported substance use histories among this population. These results can be used to inform childhood violence prevention programming of the risk of poorer cognitive functioning in adulthood if children are victimized again in adulthood.

Copyright Date

6-28-2024

Copyright Statement / License for Reuse

All Rights Reserved
All Rights Reserved.

Publication Statement

Copyright is held by the author. Permanently suppressed.

Rights Holder

Cory F. Marchi

Provenance

Received from author

File Format

application/pdf

Language

English (eng)

Extent

30 pgs

File Size

312 KB

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