Measure of attitude toward menopause using the semantic differential model.

A semantic differential instrument that measures adult women's attitudes toward menopause was constructed and validated. A volunteer sample of 504 women, 18 years or older, completed the pilot instrument of 45 bipolar adjective scales. A principal components factor analysis revealed 20 scales that loaded on one dominant factor; this factor accounted for 60% of the variance for the 20 scales. Cronbach alpha reliability was .96. The revised 20-scale instrument was called the Menopause Attitude Scale (MAS). A second sample of 419 women completed the MAS and one additional instrument for assessment of convergent and discriminant validity. Convergent validity was demonstrated by a correlation of r = .63 for the MAS with the Attitudes Toward Menopause Scale. Discriminant validity was demonstrated by a correlation of r = .42 for the MAS with the Attitudes Toward Old People Scale and a correlation of r = -.04 for the MAS with the Attitudes Toward Women Scale. Factor analysis of MAS scores revealed that one factor accounted for 61.5% of the variance for the 20 scales. The test-retest reliability for 39 subjects was .87. Multiple regression analysis identified age and menopausal status as significant explanatory variables for MAS scores.