Military service members frequently sustain traumatic brain injuries (TBI) while on active duty, a majority of which are related to explosive blasts and are mild in severity. Studies evaluating the cortical gray matter in persons with injuries of this nature remain scarce. The purpose of this study was to assess cortical thickness in a sample of military veterans with chronic blast-related TBI. Thirty-eight veterans with mild TBI and 17 veterans with moderate TBI were compared with 58 demographically matched healthy civilians. All veterans with TBI sustained injuries related to a blast and were between 5 and 120 months post-injury (M = 62.08). Measures of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression were administered, along with a battery of neuropsychological tests to assess cognition. The Freesurfer software package was used to calculate cortical thickness of the participants. Results demonstrated significant clusters of cortical thinning in the right hemispheric insula and inferior portions of the temporal and frontal lobe in both mild and moderate TBI participants. The TBI sample from this study demonstrated a high incidence of comorbid PTSD and depression symptoms, which is consistent with the previous literature. Cortical thickness values correlated with measures of PTSD, depression, and post-concussive symptoms. This study provides evidence of cortical thinning in the context of chronic blast-related mild and moderate TBI in military veterans who have comorbid psychiatric symptoms. Our findings provide important insight into the natural progression of long-term cortical change in this population and may have implications for future clinical evaluation and treatment.

Based on family conflict literature, there is a need for the development of a measure of family conflict resolution. This study aimed to develop items based on established instruments and rationally construct new items in order to pilot a measure of family conflict resolution. Preliminary reliability and validity data were obtained using a sample of young adults. Results indicate that the proposed measure of conflict resolution produced valid factor analytic solutions, adequate internal consistency, and construct validity. The results of this study also revealed avoidance of conflict as a factor that is related to adjustment. Future research into conflict avoidance as a salient contributor to psychological adjustment appears warranted.

No abstract

Results showed worse neurocognitive performance (i.e. RBANS Total Index score) in the veteran sample relative to the civilian sample [F(1,99) = 3.92, p = .05, ƞ2 = .04], particularly on tasks measuring attentional capabilities [F(1,99) = 9.18, p = .003, ƞ2 = .09]. Additional analyses found that after controlling for post-traumatic stress disorder symptomatology, differences were no longer significant. Broad correlations between measures also showcased attenuated relationships after controlling for both post-traumatic stress disorder and depressive symptomatology using partial correlations Conclusion: Findings suggest that the presence of post-traumatic stress disorder and depressive symptomatology negatively impacts cognitive performance across neuropsychological assessment above and beyond deficits related to traumatic brain injury.

These findings support the utility of the CPT-II for assessing attentional abilities in persons with TBI of varying severity, particularly those with moderate to severe status. Moreover, the current study also demonstrates relationships that are consistent with convergent validity but inconsistent findings with regard to divergent validity. As a result, the CPT-II measures components of attention that is unique to other commonly used neuropsychological measures of attentive functioning. Further research examining CPT-II performance in TBI populations is recommended.