CONSTRUCTING A STANDARD CLIMACTERIC SCALE

Issues relating to the design of scales and their psychometric propert ies are discussed in the context of constructing a standard measure of core climacteric symptoms. Seven factor analytic studies of climacter ic symptoms are examined to determine whether or not there is sufficie nt consensus across studies to permit agreement on the symptom content and the structure of such a scale. It is argued that these factor ana lytic studies do indeed contain sufficient consensus on the basis of w hich a standard climacteric scale can be constructed. Such a scale is described. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.