Are Self-Ratings of Functional Difficulties Objective or Subjective?

Abstract

In this study, we compared objective neuropsychological data using the Meyers Neuropsychological Battery (MNB; Meyers & Rohling, 2004) and self-report measures of emotional distress using the Symptom Checklist 90-Revised (SCL-90-R; Derogatis, 1994) with self-ratings of functional difficulties as measured by the Patient Competency Rating Scale (PCRS; Prigatano, 1986). The results showed a high correlation between the PCRS and scales on the SCL-90-R (r = .65), whereas correlation with the overall test battery mean of the MNB was quite small (r = .18). Our results indicate that self-report of cognitive difficulties is more related to current emotional distress than to objective measures. Therefore, any diagnostic considerations that rely on self-report need to be tempered by considerations of current emotional status. This has implications for diagnoses such as posttraumatic stress disorder and other diagnoses that rely on self-report as a source of diagnostic information.