The Adolescence Scale (AS-ICSM): a tool for the retrospective assessment of puberty milestones.

Neurodevelopmental theories of psychosis, and schizophrenia in particular, have led to renewed interest in the relationships between brain maturation, adult personality and timing of puberty. Here we present a brief Adolescence Scale (AS-ICSM) for the retrospective assessment of puberty milestones. The recommended version comprises one item for females, three for males and one common to both. An original version of five items was administered to 318 young adults. We found good internal consistencies of Cronbach's alpha = 0.87 for females and 0.83 for males, having excluded an item assessing timing of growth spurt. These findings show that the AS-ICSM is a reliable and economic tool for research into the concomitants of early and late puberty.