Violence

Violence is a cause of brain injury in children and adolescents.

The most frequent cause of violence-related brain injury in infants and very small children is Shaken Baby Syndrome. Shaken Baby Syndrome occurs when a parent or caretaker shakes a very baby or very young child, usually out of frustration or anger. The muscles in the neck are not strong enough to support the head, and so it pitches violently back and forth on the neck. This causes the brain to knock against the skull, causing tearing and shearing of brain tissue, ruptures of blood vessels in the brain, and bruising in the brain. Shaken Baby Syndrome is most common among babies from three to eight months of age, but can occur in children up to the age of four.

Other violence-related brain injury occurs when a child’s or adolescent’s head strikes a hard object, such as when he is thrown across the room, or when the head receives a blow from an object or a fist.

Gunshot wounds to the brain are another cause of violence-related brain injury in the child and adolescent.