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Do motivations for malingering matter? Symptoms of malingered PTSD as a function of motivation and trauma type

Faculty Advisor

Date

2011

Keywords

malingering, motivation, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, PTSD, symptoms, trauma

Abstract (summary)

Psychological disorders associated with traumatic events, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), may be prone to malingering due to the subjective nature of trauma symptomology. In general, symptoms tend to be inflated when an external reward (i.e., compensation) is associated with the claim. The present study was designed to test whether malingered claims of PTSD symptoms differed as a function of the type of trauma being malingered (accident, disaster, sexual assault) and the motivation for malingering (compensation, attention, revenge, no motivation). Participants were randomly assigned into conditions, given malingering instructions, and then asked to complete three measures of trauma symptoms (Impact of Event Scale—Revised; Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Checklist; Trauma Symptom Inventory). Results indicated that participants in the sexual assault condition produced higher symptom reports on nearly all scales. Revenge and compensation motivations yielded elevated symptom scores. Further, individuals rated high in fantasy proneness and dissociation produced elevated scores on atypical responding and most clinical scales. More research is needed to examine the extent to which different motivations and trauma types influence symptom reporting.

Publication Information

Peace, K. A., & Masliuk, K. A. (2011). Do motivations for malingering matter? Symptoms of malingered PTSD as a function of motivation and trauma type. Psychological Injury and Law, 4, 44-55. doi: 10.1007/s12207-011-9102-7

Notes

Item Type

Article

Language

English

Rights

All Rights Reserved