Sex-based differences in perceived pragmatic communication ability of adults with traumatic brain injury

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Study examined sex-based differences in self-reported and close other-reported perceptions of pragmatic communication skills in adults with traumatic brain injury (TBI). Participants included 160 adults with medically documented TBI and 81 adults without TBI who served as a control group. One family member or friend was nominated by each participant with TBI as a close other who could rate that participant’s communication ability. Pragmatic communication problems, which can be defined as difficulty using language and nonverbal communication in social contexts, were assessed using the La Trobe Communication Questionnaire (LCQ), a standardized measure of communication problems in everyday life. Participants with TBI, their close others, and adults in the control group completed the LCQ. Analyses of variance and t tests were used to compare TBI versus control group self-ratings and to compare self-ratings and close-others’ ratings of men versus women with TBI. Results showed that participants with TBI endorsed more communication problems than controls. There were no significant differences in self-ratings or in the ratings of close others in communication behaviors of men with TBI compared with women with TBI. There was no difference between the self-ratings of women with TBI and their close others. However, men with TBI significantly underreported communication problems compared with reports of close others. The findings suggest that women with TBI might be more accurate than men with TBI in recognizing their own pragmatic communication problems.

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