The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 45, No. 1 - 60

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These students comprise one of the top three
age groups with the highest risk of sustaining
a concussion, along with preschoolers and the
elderly (Krach, Gormley, & Ward, 2009; Langlois et al., 2006; Rao & Lyketsos, 2000). This
is largely due to college students frequently engaging in risk-taking behaviors, being inclined
toward sensation seeking, and demonstrating
feelings of invulnerability, all of which increase
the likelihood of injuries (Asemota, George,
Bowman, Haider, & Schneider, 2013), including concussions. Concussions are not only an
athletic issue; their most frequent causes are
motor vehicle accidents, falls, and assault (CDC,
2016). For example, in 2008, individuals ages
19-23 sustained 8.3% of all sports-related concussions in the U.S.; the same age group also
sustained 12.7% of all non-sports-related concussions (Zhao, Han, & Steiner, 2011). Regardless of the mechanism of injury, when college
students do sustain concussions, their symptoms often ﬂuctuate and may or may not be outwardly visible, which often leads to a belief that
their injury is not serious enough to warrant
medical attention (Buck, 2011; Dykeman, 2009;
Lewandowski & Rieger, 2009). This erroneous
belief then contributes to underreporting of
head injuries (Kroshus, Baugh, Daneshvar, &
Viswanath, 2014).
Complicating the situation is that, because
of limited experience with self-advocacy,
college students are often unaware or unwilling to admit that an injury of note has occurred and thus return to classes and sports
prematurely, without seeking appropriate help.
Upon returning to the cognitively demanding
classroom environment, students who have
sustained concussions often experience academic and behavioral difﬁculties. A study by

60

Regardless of the mechanism of
injury, when college students do
sustain concussions, their symptoms
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is not serious enough to warrant
medical attention.

Kennedy, Krause, and Turkstra (2008) found
that 97% of the respondents to a survey about
their experiences after a traumatic brain injury
faced such unexpected academic difﬁculties as
taking longer to complete assignments, experiencing test anxiety, feeling insurmountable
stress while studying, struggling to pay attention in class, forgetting important information,
procrastinating, struggling to understand assignments, and having difﬁculties with timemanagement. College students who sustain
concussions may be unable to connect these
difﬁculties to their injury and thus may not
seek appropriate help.
Many students with concussions can
receive sufﬁcient help from the campus health
center, assuming they obtain that help immediately following the injury. However, some
have persistent post-injury symptoms, such as
headaches, memory difﬁculties, anxiety, and
difﬁculty learning new material, which require
more extensive help. This help most often
comes from campus disability services, which
can accommodate certain academic challenges

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The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 45, No. 1

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