Detecting feigned symptoms of depression, anxiety, and ADHD, in college students with the structured inventory of malingered symptomatology

Abstract

Objective

Research consistently shows how easily students can feign symptoms of ADHD on self-report checklists to determine eligibility for curricular and standardized testing accommodations. However, it is unclear how easily students can feign psychological symptoms to accesses academic accommodations, making the assessment of symptom validity important in both populations.

Method

Using a between-subjects design, 75 college students were randomly assigned to one of three groups: (1) coached feigning of ADHD, (2) coached feigning of depression and anxiety (DA), and (3) honest responding (HR). Participants completed the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS-21) and the Structured Inventory of Malingered Symptomatology (SIMS).

Results

The SIMS showed 100% specificity, but low sensitivity (36–52%) for detecting feigned symptoms with different cutoffs. Differences on SIMS subtests were apparent by group with elevated scores for the DA group on the Affective Disorders subscale and elevation for the ADHD group on the Low Intelligence and Amnestic subscales. Participants identified as feigning by the SIMS typically reported more severe symptoms than participants not identified on the DASS-21.

Conclusions

The SIMS equally classified the feigned ADHD and DA participants for both cutoff scores utilized. Potential reasons for low sensitivity rates are discussed and future research recommendations are made.

Keywords:

• Symptom validity tests
• ADHD
• depression
• anxiety
• feigning

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability

Raw data were generated at Saint Louis University. Derived data supporting the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author (AFG) upon request.