The Performance of Juvenile Offenders on the Test of Memory Malingering

Abstract

The Test of Memory Malingering (TOMM; Tombaugh, 1996) is a widely used measure of response style and effort. Although it has been shown to be a helpful measure in a variety of adult samples, there are no norms based on the performance of children and adolescents. The present study investigated the TOMM performance of adolescents who are involved in the juvenile court system. Their performance was compared against adult normative data and analyzed by levels of intellectual functioning. Overall, the adolescents performed at levels that have been found in adult community samples, thus indicating that adult norms for the TOMM can be used with adolescents of a wide range of intellectual functioning.

KEYWORDS:

• malingering
• juvenile offenders
• TOMM
• test performance
• effort