Over the past 20 years, an increasing number of adults and college students have self-referred for ADHD evaluations. With the rise in adult ADHD evaluations, there has been increased concern that a proportion of these adults may be malingering the symptoms of ADHD to receive external incentives such as academic accommodations and stimulant medications. Research supports the use of well-validated measures to classify malingering in non-ADHD populations, yet all available validity tests have insufficient research to support their usage to detect this population. The present study investigated the ability of the Multidimensional ADHD Rating Scale (MARS) and two published validity tests (Word Memory Test and CAT-A Infrequency scale) to detect a group of non-ADHD college students instructed to feign ADHD, and to differentiate ADHD from non-ADHD cases. Results found that the MARS Symptom Validity Index demonstrated higher sensitivity rates for simulated malingering (75.4%) at close to optimal specificity (86.8%) compared to two published tests (sensitivity < 50%). The MARS Total Symptom index differentiated ADHD from non-ADHD cases with high sensitivity (87.1%). The study provides additional support for the effectiveness of the MARS symptom, impairment, and symptom validity indices to detect simulated cases of malingering, and to differentiate ADHD from non-ADHD cases.
","abstract_html":"<p>Over the past 20 years, an increasing number of adults and college students have self-referred for ADHD evaluations. With the rise in adult ADHD evaluations, there has been increased concern that a proportion of these adults may be malingering the symptoms of ADHD to receive external incentives such as academic accommodations and stimulant medications. Research supports the use of well-validated measures to classify malingering in non-ADHD populations, yet all available validity tests have insufficient research to support their usage to detect this population. The present study investigated the ability of the Multidimensional ADHD Rating Scale (MARS) and two published validity tests (Word Memory Test and CAT-A Infrequency scale) to detect a group of non-ADHD college students instructed to feign ADHD, and to differentiate ADHD from non-ADHD cases. Results found that the MARS Symptom Validity Index demonstrated higher sensitivity rates for simulated malingering (75.4%) at close to optimal specificity (86.8%) compared to two published tests (sensitivity < 50%). The MARS Total Symptom index differentiated ADHD from non-ADHD cases with high sensitivity (87.1%). The study provides additional support for the effectiveness of the MARS symptom, impairment, and symptom validity indices to detect simulated cases of malingering, and to differentiate ADHD from non-ADHD cases.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Potts, Heather"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)","degree_level":"Dissertation","degree_discipline":"Psychology","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Lawrence Lewandowski"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2018,"date_issued":"2018-08-24T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2018-08-24T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T04:55:37Z","subjects":["ADHD","College Students","Feigned ADHD","Malingering","Validity test","Social and Behavioral Sciences"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://surface.syr.edu/etd/932","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Lawrence Lewandowski"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Potts, Heather"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Psychology"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["ADHD","College Students","Feigned ADHD","Malingering","Validity test","Social and Behavioral Sciences"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://surface.syr.edu/etd/932"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Over the past 20 years, an increasing number of adults and college students have self-referred for ADHD evaluations. With the rise in adult ADHD evaluations, there has been increased concern that a proportion of these adults may be malingering the symptoms of ADHD to receive external incentives such as academic accommodations and stimulant medications. Research supports the use of well-validated measures to classify malingering in non-ADHD populations, yet all available validity tests have insufficient research to support their usage to detect this population. The present study investigated the ability of the Multidimensional ADHD Rating Scale (MARS) and two published validity tests (Word Memory Test and CAT-A Infrequency scale) to detect a group of non-ADHD college students instructed to feign ADHD, and to differentiate ADHD from non-ADHD cases. Results found that the MARS Symptom Validity Index demonstrated higher sensitivity rates for simulated malingering (75.4%) at close to optimal specificity (86.8%) compared to two published tests (sensitivity < 50%). The MARS Total Symptom index differentiated ADHD from non-ADHD cases with high sensitivity (87.1%). The study provides additional support for the effectiveness of the MARS symptom, impairment, and symptom validity indices to detect simulated cases of malingering, and to differentiate ADHD from non-ADHD cases.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["The Detection of ADHD and Malingering in Young Adults"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Lawrence Lewandowski"],"dc:creator":["Potts, Heather"],"dc:description.abstract":["Over the past 20 years, an increasing number of adults and college students have self-referred for ADHD evaluations. With the rise in adult ADHD evaluations, there has been increased concern that a proportion of these adults may be malingering the symptoms of ADHD to receive external incentives such as academic accommodations and stimulant medications. Research supports the use of well-validated measures to classify malingering in non-ADHD populations, yet all available validity tests have insufficient research to support their usage to detect this population. The present study investigated the ability of the Multidimensional ADHD Rating Scale (MARS) and two published validity tests (Word Memory Test and CAT-A Infrequency scale) to detect a group of non-ADHD college students instructed to feign ADHD, and to differentiate ADHD from non-ADHD cases. Results found that the MARS Symptom Validity Index demonstrated higher sensitivity rates for simulated malingering (75.4%) at close to optimal specificity (86.8%) compared to two published tests (sensitivity < 50%). The MARS Total Symptom index differentiated ADHD from non-ADHD cases with high sensitivity (87.1%). The study provides additional support for the effectiveness of the MARS symptom, impairment, and symptom validity indices to detect simulated cases of malingering, and to differentiate ADHD from non-ADHD cases.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://surface.syr.edu/etd/932"],"dc:subject":["ADHD","College Students","Feigned ADHD","Malingering","Validity test","Social and Behavioral Sciences"],"dc:title":["The Detection of ADHD and Malingering in Young Adults"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Psychology"],"thesis:degree_level":["Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_name":["Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T04:55:37Z"}