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COVARIATES, CONFOUNDERS, AND CONSISTENCY: CHARACTERIZING THE VIETNAM VETERAN FOR 28 EPIDEMIOLOGIC STUDIES Assessing the Reliability of Veterans' Recall Among the items assessed in the survey discussed above were the test-retest reliability and internal consistency of responses. Both demographic and health-outcome variables were evaluated. Earlier work by the researchers had found remarkable consistency in reports of combat experience in this cohort (Stellman SD et al., 1988a). In the present work, they found that respondents were largely consistent in self-reports of physical and mental health between the two waves of the survey. That suggests that surveys are a valid means of gathering data from this population. OUTREACH TO BLACK AND LATINO VETERANS Although it represents a wide range of educational and income levels, the original American Legion cohort is predominantly white, so there were concerns over the generalizability of results. Furthermore, the National Vietnam Veterans Readjustment Study (NVVRS) suggested that black and Latino veterans are particularly at risk for negative outcomes related to service in Southeast Asia (Kulka et al., 1990; Stellman SD et al, 1988a). Given the documented association between combat and Agent Orange exposure, that suggests that veterans from those groups might have been at higher risk for exposure to herbicides than white veterans (Bullman et al., 1990; Breslin et al., 1988). The investigators consulted with the American Legion leadership and identified several posts in Ohio and Maryland that participated in the original study and had large numbers of black members. In addition, they identified posts in New Mexico and Texas with large numbers of Hispanic members and enlisted the cooperation of the American Legion in Puerto Rico. Questions regarding perceptions of discrimination in the military were adapted from those included in the NVVRS and were added to the survey. The wording of the questions was changed so that respondents of any race or ethnic group could answer them in as much as none of the posts in the outreach was segregated by race or ethnicity and white veterans would thus be expected among the respondents. The outreach sample comprised 1,230 respondents from all the
