title: Actual versus self-reported scholastic achievement of litigating postconcussion and severe closed head injury claimants.
abstract: Psychologists typically rely on patients' self-report of premorbid status in litigated settings. The authors examined the fidelity between self-reported and actual scholastic performance in litigating head injury claimants. The data indicated late postconcussion syndrome (LPCS) and severe closed head injury litigants retrospectively inflated scholastic performance to a greater degree than nonlitigating control groups. The LPCS group showed the highest magnitude of grade inflation, but discrepancy scores did not significantly correlate with a battery of malingering measures or with objective cerebral dysfunction. These findings support previous studies, which showed self-report is not a reliable basis for estimation of preinjury cognitive status. Retrospective inflation may represent a response shift bias shaped by an adversarial context rather than a form of malingering.
authors.affiliation: Psychological Systems, Inc., 26862 Woodward, Suite 103, Royal Oak, Michigan 48067, USA. mfg@neuro-psychology.com
authors.forename: M Frank
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Greiffenstein
authors.forename: W John
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Baker
authors.forename: Douglas
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Johnson-Greene
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001924:Brain Concussion / Q000523:psychology*; D008192:Deception; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D016489:Head Injuries, Closed / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D007345:Insurance Claim Review; D008950:MMPI; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D012650:Self Disclosure