A group of 30 two-parent families with an adolescent who suffered a mild-to-moderate traumatic brain injury (TBI families) was compared to a group of 30 families with a noninjured adolescent (non-TBI families) in regard to measures of perceived family functioning (McMaster Model Family Assessment Device), projected autonomy (an experimental family autonomy scale for Parent Role Response and Adolescent Role Response, from a family system perspective), and maladaptive behavior (Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales). These evaluations were administered to both parents, the adolescent, and the sibling closest in age to the adolescent so that the family could be used as the unit of analysis. The TBI families had significantly poorer perceived functioning on six of the seven scales of the Family Assessment Device and lower projected autonomy than did non-TBI families. The TBI adolescents showed significantly more reported maladaptive behaviors and showed them more frequently than did the non-TBI adolescents. Siblings in the TBI families chose responses that projected parents as handling situations less autonomously than did siblings in non-TBI families. Sibling age was correlated with siblings' responses on the family autonomy scale (Parent Role Response only)—the older the siblings, the more likely they chose responses projecting parents as handling situations autonomously. Parents in both groups rated their family's perceived levels of functioning higher than did adolescents and siblings, and parents in both groups selected responses reflecting higher projected autonomy than did adolescents and siblings. Results are discussed in reference to differences between and similarities in TBI and non-TBI families.
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Bragg et al. (1992) studied this question.