Further validation of the Parent-Reported ADHD Symptom Infrequency Scale (PRASIS) in parents of children with oppositional defiant disorder and anxiety

ABSTRACT

This study aimed to validate a novel parent-report measure of ADHD symptom inflation, the Parent-Reported ADHD Symptom Infrequency Scale (PRASIS), in a clinical sample. The PRASIS is composed of an Infrequency subscale and an ADHD subscale. Online participants were assigned to one of three groups: mothers of children with diagnosed ADHD (n = 110), mothers of children with diagnosed ODD and/or anxiety (n = 116), and mothers of children without ADHD, ODD, or anxiety. The third group was then randomized to either receive instructions to complete the questionnaire honestly (controls, n = 164) or to complete the questionnaire as if they were trying to convince a provider that their child has ADHD (simulators, n = 141). Results indicated good to excellent internal consistency (INF α = .83, ADHD Total α = .93); strong convergent validity of the PRASIS ADHD scale with the ADHD Rating Scale-5 (r(529) = .85, p < .001); excellent group discrimination of the PRASIS Infrequency scale and the PRASIS ADHD scale (η² = 0.38–0.42); and specificity of 86.7, sensitivity of 67.4%, and an AUC of .86 for the Infrequency scale. Overall, these outcomes supported the utility of the PRASIS in samples including mothers of children with psychiatric diagnoses of ODD and/or anxiety.

KEYWORDS:

• ADHD
• symptom exaggeration
• malingering
• symptom validity
• pediatric assessment

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Nathan Weed, Ph.D., and Daniel Drevon, Ph.D., for their mentorship and consultation regarding this project. A portion of our study was presented at the annual American meeting of the International Neuropsychological Society (INS) conference (2024).

Disclosure statement

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

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported that there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.