Relationships among Victoria Symptom Validity Test indices and Personality Assessment Inventory validity scales in a large clinical sample

The purpose of this study was twofold. (1) to examine the relationships among measures of cognitive symptom exaggeration (i.e., response accuracy and response latency) and (2) to examine the relationship between measures of cognitive and psychopathological symptom exaggeration. It was expected that Victoria Symptom Validity Test (VSVT) accuracy and latency measures would be significantly correlated, with invalid responders demonstrating longer response latencies. VSVT scores were also expected to correlate significantly with the Negative Impression Management (NIM) and Infrequency (INF) subscales of the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI). VSVT and PAI data were collected from 300 patients during routine clinical neuropsychological evaluations. Results indicated that VSVT accuracy and latency measures were significantly and moderately correlated, and both types of VSVT scores were significantly, but modestly, related to NIM, but not INF. These findings suggest that VSVT response latencies may supplement accuracy scores in identifying patients who are exerting sub-optimal effort on cognitive measures. These findings further suggest that measures of cognitive symptom validity only partially overlap with measures of psychopathological symptom exaggeration.