Resiliency and Post-Concussion Symptoms in Adolescents with Sport-Related Concussions

Abstract

Abstract Purpose Resiliency is a factor affecting an individual’s ability to “bounce back” from stressful events, including injury. A Sport-Related Concussion (SRC) may constitute a stressful event for athletes, yet the association of resiliency with symptoms following SRC is not well known. Thus, we sought to determine if a brief measure of resiliency was related to initial symptoms following SRC in adolescent athletes. Methods Subjects (n=458, 199 female, 259 male) aged 12–25 with SRC were evaluated within 30 days of injury (M= 8.35 days, SD=6.98) at a North Texas Concussion Registry (ConTex) clinic. Subjects completed the Sport Concussion Assessment Tool-5 symptom evaluation and the Brief Resiliency Scale (BRS). Subjects were grouped into low (n=56,) average (n= 280), and high (n=122) resiliency groups according to the BRS. ANOVA was conducted to compare initial concussion symptoms across resiliency groups. Results Subjects with low resiliency reported a greater number of symptoms (M=12.96, SD=6.79) than those with high resiliency (M=9.47, SD=6.52; p<.005) and a higher level of symptoms (M=34.73, SD=25.90 vs M=25.11 SD=24.72; p<.02). Subjects with low resiliency also reported higher levels of emotional symptoms (Irritability, Sadness, Nervousness, and Feeling More Emotional) than those with average and high resiliency. Conclusion Our findings suggest that low resiliency may be associated with greater symptoms following SRC. For emotional symptoms, resiliency level (low, average, high) showed a linear relationship with symptom level. However, the potential relationship between resiliency and recovery or persistence of symptoms over time remains a question.