title: Cognitive underperformance and symptom over-reporting in a mixed psychiatric sample.
abstract: The current study examined the prevalence of cognitive underperformance and symptom over-reporting in a mixed sample of psychiatric patients (N = 183). We employed the Amsterdam Short-Term Memory Test (ASTM) to measure cognitive underperformance and the Structured Inventory of Malingered Symptomatology (SIMS) to measure the tendency to over-report symptoms. We also administered neuropsychological tests (e.g., Concept Shifting Task; Rey's Verbal Learning Test) and the Symptom Checklist-90 (SCL-90) to the patients. A total of 34% of them failed the ASTM, the SIMS or both tests. ASTM and SIMS scores were significantly, albeit modestly, correlated with each other (r = -.22). As to the links between underperformance, over-reporting, neuropsychological tasks, and the SCL-90, the association between over-reporting on the SIMS and SCL-90 scores was the most robust one. The subsample that only failed on the ASTM performed significantly worse on a compound index of memory performance. Our findings indicate that underperformance and over-reporting are loosely coupled dimensions and that particularly over-reporting is intimately linked to heightened SCL-90 scores.
authors.affiliation: Psy-Q Mental Health Care Institute, Maastricht & School for Mental Health and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands. b.fitzgerald@maastrichtuniversity.nl
authors.forename: Brechje
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Dandachi-FitzGerald
authors.forename: Rudolf W H M
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Ponds
authors.forename: Maarten J V
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Peters
authors.forename: Harald
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Merckelbach
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008306:Malingering / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology*; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D015995:Prevalence; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014706:Verbal Learning / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult