Department of Psychology & Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
Psychol Health. 2009 Oct;24(8):919-32. doi: 10.1080/08870440802108926.
Past measurement of vitality has included both emotional and physical components. Since aspects of physical vitality such as fatigue can be indicative of physical illness, the usefulness of existing measures of vitality to predict health is limited. This research was designed to examine the psychometric properties of a new Mental Vitality Scale and to test its associations with measures of cardiovascular health over the course of 2 years. The measure of mental vitality was administered in a two-part study using three different samples. In part 1, the reliability and validity of the scale was assessed with a student and a clinic sample. In part 2, medical data on mental and physical health were abstracted over a two-year period from 1041 patient records from a multi-specialty medical practice, and mental vitality assessed through a mailed questionnaire. The findings indicate that the Mental Vitality Scale is a valid and reliable questionnaire for measuring this construct. Mental vitality was also associated with reduced odds of several cardiovascular outcomes and prospective analyses suggest that mental vitality may serve a protective function in the development of cardiovascular disease. The results lend support for the importance of mental vitality as a construct that may be relevant for considering resilience in relation to cardiovascular disease.
过去对生命力的测量包括情感和身体两个方面。由于身体活力的各个方面，如疲劳，可能是身体疾病的征兆，因此现有生命力测量方法预测健康的有效性有限。本研究旨在检验一种新的心理活力量表的心理测量特性，并在两年的时间内测试其与心血管健康测量的关联。该心理活力测量采用两部分研究，使用了三个不同的样本。在第一部分中，使用学生和诊所样本评估了该量表的信度和效度。在第二部分中，从一家多专科医疗实践的 1041 份患者记录中提取了两年的心理和身体健康数据，并通过邮寄问卷评估了心理活力。研究结果表明，心理活力量表是测量该结构的有效且可靠的问卷。心理活力还与多种心血管结果的几率降低有关，前瞻性分析表明，心理活力可能在心血管疾病的发展中起到保护作用。结果表明，心理活力作为一个可能与心血管疾病相关的韧性结构很重要。
