AN INTERVIEW TO MEASURE VITAL EXHAUSTION .2. RELIABILITY AND VALIDITYOF THE INTERVIEW AND CORRELATIONS OF VITAL EXHAUSTION WITH PERSONALITY-CHARACTERISTICS

In the previous paper (Meesters and Appels, this issue) we described t he development of an interview to measure feelings of vital exhaustion (VE). The current paper presents data on the reliability and the vali dity of the interview, which is labeled the Maastricht Interview for V ital Exhaustion (MIVE). Correlations with the Type A behavior pattern (TABP) and hostility are also discussed in this paper. The data were c ollected in a case-control study of 81 males with first MI and 168 hea lthy neighborhood controls. The interview was found to have a good rel iability, Cronbach's alpha being .90 in the case group and .86 in the control group. The kappa coefficient was .95 in the case group and .91 in the control group. The validity was tested by computing the estima ted relative risk of VE, controlling for angina pectoris and the class ic risk factors. The odds ratio was found to be 8.11 (p<.001). This in dicates that the interview makes a valid assessment of the mental prec ursors of MI. The interview correlated significantly with TABP (struct ured interview) and two self-report measures of hostility (Cook-Medley Hostility Scale and Buss-Durkee Hostility Inventory). Although the ab solute magnitude of the observed odds ratios may be affected to some e xtent because the interviews were not scored blind, these results clea rly suggest that the MIVE is a reliable and valid method to assess VE.