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.