Abstract
To date, limited research has investigated the Behavioral Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF) and BRIEF Self-Report (BRIEF-SR) in adolescents presenting exclusively with mild traumatic brain injuries (mTBI). The present study was retrospective and included 163 adolescents (43% male; M age = 14.80; M days since injury = 34.10) referred for neuropsychological evaluation after mTBI. Results revealed that mean BRIEF and BRIEF-SR clinical scale scores in the sample were generally similar to those in the standardization sample, commensurate with previous literature on the trajectory of cognitive and symptom recovery after mTBI. Adolescents reported significantly higher scores than their parents only on Emotional Control, with no differences emerging on other clinical scales. Confirmatory factor analyses indicated that the two-factor model of the BRIEF-SR (Metacognition and Behavioral Regulation; Comparative Fit Index (CFI) = 0.97) provided relatively and statistically significant better fit than a one-factor model extracted in exploratory analyses. Results also indicated that a three-factor model of the BRIEF capturing Metacognition, Behavioral Regulation, and Emotional Regulation (CFI = 0.98) provided relatively and significantly better fit than the two-factor model. These results suggested that adolescents in the post-acute phase of mTBI recovery may rate their own executive dysfunction in terms of metacognitive and behavioral difficulties, while their parents may observe executive dysfunction in these two dimensions in addition to emotional dysfunction. Relationships to previous literature, limitations of the present study, and implications for clinical practice are discussed.