Understanding how personality factors may influence quality of life

Abstract

To develop and validate a simple personality scale to be used as a complementary tool for menopause-specific quality-of-life instruments. A population-based random sample of 2,274 Spanish women stratified by age groups and education level was used in the validation phase. The initial 94-item questionnaire was reduced to 20 items by examining the frequency and variability with which women were responding to each of the items. The measurement properties were tested by conducting reliability (internal consistency and test-retest) and validation analyses (correlations, and factor analysis). The final 20-item scale consisted of three domains: introversion (seven items), emotional instability (seven items), and insincerity (control subscale, six items). Cronbach's alpha coefficients for the subscales of emotional instability, introversion, and insincerity were 0.7966, 0.7135, and 0.7042, respectively. The test-retest correlation was r = 0.763 for introversion, r = 0.720 for emotional instability, and r = 0.680 for insincerity (P < 0.001). The Cervantes Personality Scale is short and easy to administer. Scores range from 0 (the most extraverted personality) to 35 (the most introverted personality) for the introversion domain, from 0 (the most emotionally stable personality) to 35 (the most emotionally unstable personality) for the emotional instability domain, and from 0 (the most sincere response) to 30 (the most insincere response) for the insincerity domain. A novel self-report 20-item scale for assessing three stable personality traits (introversion, emotional instability, and insincerity) in peri- and postmenopausal women is presented. We provide preliminary evidence that the Cervantes Personality Scale is a useful psychometric tool for studying personality in women going through the menopausal transition.