PSYCHOMETRIC PROPERTIES OF MODIFIED GROSSARTH-MATICEK AND EYSENCK INVENTORIES

A sample of 204 subjects of both genders aged 17 to 72 years (one-third students, two-thirds in various occupations) were presented a pool of 291 items. Among these items, those 277 published by Eysenck and Grossarth-Maticek (1990) were of central interest. The scales, produced from the items to measure 6 different constructs, were internally highly consistent and differentiated among groups of various ages and by gender. Two scales are of particular significance, one because the construct underlying the scale is intended to show a disposition for cancer, the other one a disposition for coronary heart disease. Together the scales constitute the one pole of a single bipolar dimension, the other pole of which was defined by a scale measuring health and autonomy. Moreover, groups of persons suffering from either disease differed in their mean scores from those of healthy persons but could not be discriminated from one another by their scores on the scales. The implications of these results for the prediction of either of the two diseases are discussed.