Specificity

The proportion of true non-cases that an assessment correctly identifies as negative — also called the true negative rate.

Specificity is the proportion of true non-cases that an assessment correctly identifies as negative. If a depression screener has 90% specificity, it correctly rules out 90% of people who don't have depression — and falsely flags 10% as positive.

Specificity is reported alongside sensitivity. The two trade off through the choice of cutoff: a more sensitive screener catches more real cases but raises false positives, while a more specific screener has fewer false positives but misses more real cases. The right balance depends on what's costlier in context — missing real cases (favor sensitivity) or overwhelming a follow-up system with false positives (favor specificity).

Sensitivity — The proportion of true cases that an assessment correctly identifies — also called the true positive rate.
Cutoff score — A specific value on an assessment used to classify respondents into categories. Not a diagnosis.
Screening — Using a brief assessment to identify people who may benefit from further evaluation — not to diagnose.

Specificity

Related terms