Demographic Influences in Performance Validity Testing

Neuropsychological tests are utilized in clinical settings to measure an individual’s level of brain functioning. Non-credible performance on these tests poses a significant threat to the validity of test results and undermines the utility of clinical interpretation based on such scores. Performance validity indicators (PVIs) are measures used to determine if the score obtained on a given neuropsychological test can be considered an accurate representation of the target construct. It is well documented in scientific literature that demographic variables can influence performance on neuropsychological tests. In this research, the effect of the demographic variables age and gender on PVI failure rates will be examined by comparing the classification accuracy of demographically adjusted cut-offs against established measures of performance validity.Data were collected from a clinical sample that was referred for neuropsychological evaluation and participants completed a thorough neuropsychological battery. Results indicate that females and older examinees are at a higher risk of failing the PVI using the raw cut-off scores. When using cut-offs that are adjusted for these demographic variables, there is a lower rate of PVI failure. These findings suggest that demographically adjusted cut-off values should be utilized in order to improve classification accuracy of the PVI. If replicated, the discoveries made in this research would have important ethical and psychometric implications