The overlap between dissociative symptoms and symptom over-reporting

Abstract

Background and Objectives: The potential link between dissociative symptoms and symptom over-reporting has been given little attention. In two student samples (N’s = 139 and 113) and a clinical sample (N = 21), we examined whether self-reported dissociative symptoms are related to symptom over-reporting. Methods: We relied on different measures of dissociation and over-reporting. In the clinical sample, we looked at whether the well-established link between dissociative symptoms and sleep disturbances would survive if we corrected for symptom over-reporting. Results: Dissociativity correlated with symptom over-reporting in the student samples, but not in the clinical sample. Correcting for over-reporting tendencies did not fundamentally alter the relationships between dissociative symptoms and sleep disturbances in the clinical sample. Conclusions: Our results suggest that the overlap between symptom over-reporting and dissociativity is much more a problem in nonclinical than in clinical samples.