Vital exhaustion measures and their associations with coronary heart disease risk factors in a sample of Spanish-speakers

The main purpose of this research was to study the reliability and conceptu al validity of two Spanish language measures of Vital Exhaustion (VE), a sh ort-term risk factor for coronary artery disease (CAD). The English version of the Maastricht Questionnaire for Vital Exhaustion was used to make a Sp anish language questionnaire (VEQ) and a Spanish language interview (VEI) w hose scoring systems were equal to the original version. These instruments were administered to a sample of healthy working men (n = 100) and women (n = 130) in Caracas, Venezuela. Participants also completed questionnaires d esigned to measure anger-expression and social support and were assessed by means of the Structured Interview to measure Type A Behaviour Pattern (TAB P). Information about other CAD-risk factors, such as age, smoking behavior , and health habits, were collected. High reliability coefficients, .85 and .91, were found for the VEI and VEQ, respectively. Principal component analysis provided one-factor solutions f or each instrument. The pattern of correlations between VE, assessed by the VEI, and other personality characteristics was rather similar to the patte rn observed in other cultures. In general significant, but modest, correlat ions were observed between VE and TABP, anger expression, a negative self-c oncept, and low social support. We conclude that VE appears to be a meaning ful construct in this particular cultural context.