Preinjury personality traits and the prediction of early neurobehavioral symptoms following mild traumatic brain injury

Objective: To determine if preinjury personality predicts early outcome in mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI) compared with orthopedic injury (OI). Study Design: Participants and significant others (SO) completed preinjury personality and early postinjury symptom questionnaires. Setting: Inpatient hospital and outpatient follow-up. Subjects: Eighty-seven people with MTBI and 82 with OI. Outcome Measures: NEO Personality Inventory - Revised (NEO-PI-R); Neurobehavioral Functioning Inventory (NFI). Results: Personality ratings and symptom endorsement were within normal limits. Concordance between self- and SO ratings was moderate (r ≥ .50). In both groups, there were very modest associations between preinjury personality and early symptoms. Significant effects were primarily due to overlapping item content between the personality and symptom questionnaires. Conclusions: Preinjury personality holds limited predictive value for MTBI outcome.