Discriminating Among ADHD Alone, ADHD With a Comorbid Psychological Disorder, and Feigned ADHD in a College Sample

Abstract

Since the early 2000s concern has increased that college students might feign ADHD in pursuit of academic accommodations and stimulant medication. In response, several studies have validated tests for use in differentiating feigned from genuine ADHD. Although results have generally been positive, relatively few publications have addressed the possible impact of the presence of psychological disorders comorbid with ADHD. Because ADHD is thought to have accompanying conditions at rates of 50% and higher, it is important to determine if the additional psychological disorders might compromise the accuracy of feigning detection measures. The present study extended the findings of Jasinski et al. (2011) to examine the efficacy of various measures in the context of feigned versus genuine ADHD with comorbid psychological disorders in undergraduate students. Two clinical groups (ADHD only and ADHD + comorbid psychological disorder) were contrasted with two non-clinical groups (normal controls answering honestly and normal participants feigning ADHD). Extending previous research to individuals with ADHD and either an anxiety or learning disorder, performance validity tests such as the Test of Memory Malingering (TOMM), the Letter Memory Test (LMT), and the Nonverbal Medical Symptom Validity Test (NV-MSVT) were effective in differentiating both ADHD groups from normal participants feigning ADHD. However, the Digit Memory Test (DMT) underperformed in this study, as did embedded validity indices from the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-IV (WAIS-IV) and Woodcock Johnson Tests of Achievement-III (WJ-III).

The Development of an Embedded Figures Test for the Detection of Feigned Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in Adulthood

“…comorbidity, medication status, or patients from a specific environment such as college students. A recent study by Williamson and colleagues [ 24 ] examined the effect of comorbidity in ADHD on the ability to detect feigning by using established effort tests. The authors concluded that classification rates of feigned ADHD were robust, independently of the presence of comorbid psychiatric disorders of patients with ADHD.…”

Systematic Review: Nonmedical Use of Prescription Stimulants: Risk Factors, Outcomes, and Risk Reduction Strategies

“…Motivated individuals can fake ADHD by underperforming on psychological measures 112 and overreporting symptoms. 117 Some performance validity tests 110 and symptom validity tests 116 may be reasonably effective at discriminating feigned from genuine ADHD, but this issue has not been adequately investigated to date.…”

Evaluating the consistency of scales used in adult attention deficit hyperactivity disorder assessment of college-aged adults

“…Symptoms are considered present when endorsed as “often” or “very often” present. Studies have shown that BAARS-IV scaleshave a high internal consistency (α=0.92) and high test-retest reliability ( r =0.75) for current ADHD symptoms and childhood symptoms questionnaire, respectively (9).…”