Date of Award

2009

Degree Type

Thesis

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Poreh, Amir

Subject Headings

Post-traumatic stress disorder, Psychometrics, PTSD, Traumatic events inventory, TEI, Malingering, Dissimulation

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess the preliminary psychometrics of the Traumatic Events Inventory (TEI), a new Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) scale designed to identify individuals who are malingering. Participants were students and members of the community who were instructed to feign PTSD or to perform normally. The internal consistencies of the TEI full-scale as well as the subscales were high. Construct validity was examined by comparing scores on TEI to participants' performance on malingering indices of the TMT, the Digit Span, the Digit Symbol, and the RAVLT. The TEI full-scale, as well as many of the subscales, were significantly correlated with one of the most well validated malingering indices, the Reliable Digit Span (RDS), the Digit Symbol raw and scaled score, the TMT part A, and various RAVLT indices. The results of this study provide an indication of the TEI's potential ability to distinguish malingerers from those with genuine PTSD. The questionnaire may be used to help determine if an individual involved in a PTSD disability claim or lawsuit is accurately portraying their symptoms. The ability to determine which individuals have genuine PTSD will allow resources to be allocated to those who are in most need of assistance

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