ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Neurol.
Sec. Neurotrauma
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fneur.2025.1609098
Mind the Gender Gap: How Defining Head Trauma Increases Reporting in Women Aged 30-50
Provisionally accepted
- 1University of New Hampshire, Durham, United States
- 2The Chicago School of Professional Psychology, Chicago, Illinois, United States
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The use of an objective measure to evaluate the history of head trauma has been shown to significantly impact the amount of reported sustained head trauma in athletic male populations. However, the generalization of this definition across a more diverse population remains challenging; the World Health Organization notes that 93% of current research on mild traumatic brain injuries lacks gender-specific data. Additionally, compared to reports on young adults, there is limited research on the effects of concussions in midlife. Researchers hypothesize that women aged 30 to 50 from a general population would report additional head injuries when provided with an objective definition similar to those previously used for male athletes.Highly educated women (M=16.7 years of education, SD=2.1) aged 30-50 (M=40.3, SD=5.1) completed an online survey. The survey collected demographic data on sports participation and head trauma history. Race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status were not collected. Participants first reported lifetime mTBI history without an objective definition, and were then reassessed after being given an objective definition.A Wilcoxen Signed Rank test indicated a significant change in number of reported head injuries, pre and post definition (z= 4.06, p<.0001). The number of head injuries reported increased for 42% of the population, for this portion of the sample the median increased fourfold. To better understand the differences between those who reported an increase, and those who didn't, researchers performed an examination of commonalities between those groups. A Chi-Square Test of Independence indicated a significant relationship (chi=7.03, p<.01) between participation in sports (recreational, organized) and change in reported head injuries: 21% of individuals without a sport history increased the number of reported head injuries, in contrast 58% of individuals with a sport history increased the number of head injuries reported.
Keywords: MTBI, TBI, Women, gender, midlife, Neuropsychology, concussion, multiple
Received: 09 Apr 2025; Accepted: 05 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Fifty, Mayes, Ehret, Haeffner and Seichepine. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Christopher Fifty, University of New Hampshire, Durham, United States
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