A-183 Base Rates of Performance and Symptom Validity Test Failures in Active Duty and Veteran Samples Referred for Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Evaluation

Objective To evaluate base rates of abnormal MMPI-2-RF symptom validity test (SVT) and stand-alone performance validity test (PVT) scores in active duty (ad) service member and Veterans Affairs clinical samples referred for neuropsychological assessment of ADHD. Method MMPI-2-RF SVT scores and various PVTs were evaluated in two samples referred specifically for assessment of ADHD: service members (N = 82) and Veterans (N = 355). SVT and PVT outcomes were then compared to published data establishing invalid base rates in larger, more general samples. Results Elevated MMPI-2-RF overreport scales (F-r ≥ 79; FS, RBS, and FBS-r ≥ 80; & Fp-r ≥ 70) ranged from 14.6% (FBS-r) to 40.0% (RBS) in the ad sample and 12.0% (FBS-r) and 28.9% (RBS) in the veteran sample. MMPI-2-RF profiles that were invalidated due to overreport (e.g., F-r = 120, all others ≥100) were under 5% on the veteran sample and no greater than 6.1% in the ad sample. Elevations on underreport scales were higher in the veteran sample (L-r = 12.9%, K-r = 2.0%) than the ad sample (L-r = 3.7%, K-r = 1.2%). In the ad sample, 21.5% failed one PVT and 6.3% failed two. In the Veteran sample, 23.4% failed one PVT. Conclusions Elevated MMPI-2-RF overreport scales were relatively common on ad and Veterans referred for ADHD evaluations. However, frequencies of elevated and invalidated scales were diminished relative to overall base rates reported in national data. Regarding PVT failure, both samples were lower than national average invalid rates. Despite the incentive inherent in ADHD exams, invalidity in both samples were consistently lower for both SVTs and PVTs.