Comparison of the MMPI-2 restructured Demoralization Scale, Depression Scale, and Malingered Mood Disorder Scale in identifying non-credible symptom reporting in personal injury litigants and disability claimants.
A known groups design compared the ability of the 24-item MMPI-2 Restructured Clinical Demoralization Scale (RCd), the 57-item Depression Scale (Scale 2), and the 15-item Malingered Mood Disorder Scale (MMDS) to identify non-credible symptom response sets in 84 personal injury litigants and disability claimants compared to 77 non-litigating head-injured controls. All three scales showed large effect sizes (>0.80). Scale 2 was associated with the largest effect size (2.19), followed by the MMDS (1.65), and the RCd (0.85). Logistic regression analyses revealed that a cutscore of > or =28 on the 57-item Scale 2 was associated with high specificity (96.1%) and sensitivity (76.2%), while a cutscore of > or =16 on the 24-item RCd was less accurate (87% specificity and 50% sensitivity). Cutscores for the MMDS were not calculated as they were reported in a previous study. Results indicated that like the 15-item MMDS, the 57-item MMPI-2 Scale 2 may provide another empirically derived index with known error rates upon which examiners may rely to investigate hypotheses relative to exaggeration of illness-related behavior and impression management in forensic contexts involving PI litigants and disability claimants.
Henry
George K
GK
Los Angeles Neuropsychology Group, Los Angeles, CA 90025, USA. GHenry0249@aol.com
Heilbronner
Robert L
RL
Mittenberg
Wiley
W
Enders
Craig
C
Domboski
Kristen
K
D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D006259:Craniocerebral Trauma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D006233:Persons with Disabilities / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007603:Jurisprudence; D008950:MMPI; D008297:Male; D008306:Malingering / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D019964:Mood Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D055815:Young Adult