Psychometric evaluation of the Financial Threat Scale (FTS) in the context of the great recession.
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marjanovic2013 - p. 2
According to the transactional model of stress, stressors are first assessed as to their significance or threat level (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984). Largely, this primary appraisal process involves estimating the harm a stressor has already had or is likely to cause in the future. In general, the greater the harm estimated, the greater the stressor is perceived as being threatening. After levels of a stressor’s threat have been appraised, a secondary appraisal process ensues that evaluates potential approaches one has for coping with threats.
marjanovic2013 - p. 2
Another likely correlate of financial threat is rumination—the tendency to have frequent, unsolicited negative thoughts about experiences or themes, and dwell on their obstruction of personal goals
marjanovic2013 - p. 3
generalized self-efficacy—a person’s confidence that he or she can cope with and manage stressful situations effectively (Schwarzer & Jerusalem, 1995)—is likely negatively related to financial threat
marjanovic2013 - p. 3
The aim of the present study was to evaluate the newly developed Financial Threat Scale (FTS) in the context of the greatest economic recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s.
marjanovic2013 - p. 3
It was intended to cover a wide breadth of the financial threat hypothetical construct with as few items as possible. Its five items cover areas of uncertainty, risk, perceived threat (included to bolster face validity), worry, and cognitive preoccupation with one’s current personal finances. All five items are endorsed along five-point scales, the endpoints of which change slightly to reflect item content
marjanovic2013 - p. 4
General Health Questionnaire-12 (GHQ12; Goldberg et al., 1997). The GHQ-12 is a widely used, brief measure of psychological distress issues, such as depression, anxiety, social functioning, and confidence. Although factor analytic studies have revealed the GHQ-12 consists of anywhere from one to three factors, these factors tend to be highly intercorrelated and offer few advantages in differentiating groups over the original single-factor GHQ-12 score
marjanovic2013 - p. 4
Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI; Derogatis, 1993). The BSI is a broad measure of clinically related symptoms of psychological distress. It includes subscales such as somatization, interpersonal sensitivity, and psychoticism. However, for the purposes of our broader questionnaire on the economic downturn and mental health, only the seven-item depression subscale and six-item anxiety subscale were administered.
marjanovic2013 - p. 4
rofile of Mood States-Short Form-Total Mood Disturbance (P-TMD; Shacham, 1983). The P-TMD is a 37-item measure on which individuals report the extent to which a series of mood-related adjectives describe them recently. We adapted the P-TMD’s instructions slightly to query respondents about their recent feelings about their financial situations (‘‘Using the scale below, indicate your recent feelings about your financial situation.’’) The measure contains six subscales (fatigue–inertia, vigor–activity, tension–anxiety, depression–dejection, anger–hostility, and confusion–bewilderment). For our study, we calculated a single score of Total Mood Disturbance by subtracting a weighted vigor subscale score from the sum of the other five subscales
marjanovic2013 - p. 4
conomic Hardship Scale (EHQ; Lempers, Clark-Lempers, & Simons, 1989). The 10-item EHQ queries the extent to which the respondent has had to make cutbacks to his or her lifestyle due to financial difficulties in the last few years. The EHQ has shown acceptable psychometric properties in diverse samples (Wadsworth et al., 2011). The EHQ is endorsed on a four-point scale, ranging from 1 = Never to 4 = Very Often. Greater scores reflect greater financial deterioration.
marjanovic2013 - p. 4
inancial Well-Being Scale (FWBS; Norvilitis et al., 2003). The FWBS is made up of eight statements that describe the state of and changes to an individual’s financial situation (e.g., changes to personal debt levels). For each item, the respondent has to report the extent to which the statement describes their current financial situation.
marjanovic2013 - p. 4
Income Change Scale (ICS; adapted from Lempers et al. (1989)). The ICS is a single-item measure which queries respondents as to what extent their income has changed over the last few years; specifically, ‘‘Over the last few years, how has your financial situation changed?’
marjanovic2013 - p. 4
Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ; Meyer, Miller, Metzger, & Borkovec, 1990). The PSWQ is a 16-item measure of uncontrollable and severe characteristics of worry that are typical of individuals with generalized anxiety disorder. Respondents indicate how much each item describes them in general.
marjanovic2013 - p. 4
Ruminative Responses Scale (RRS; Treynor, Gonzalez, & Nolen-Hoeksema, 2003). The RRS is a 20-item, psychometrically sound, trait rumination measure that contains three subscales: brooding, reflection, and depression-related. For our purposes, only the five-item brooding and five-item reflection subscales were used as the depression-related subscale was redundant with other measures in our investigation. The five brooding items query a respondent’s tendency to look back and engage in self-blame for the way negative events unfolded.
marjanovic2013 - p. 5
eneral Self Efficacy Scale (GSE; Schwarzer & Jerusalem, 1995). The 10-item GSE measures individual’s optimistic belief in their abilities to effect change in their environment and cope with adversity. It is widely used and has acceptable psychometric properties (Luszczynska, Scholz, & Schwarzer, 2005).
marjanovic2013 - p. 5
All of these correlations exceeded .47, which suggests they were all measuring some similar construct (Tabachnick & Fidell, 2007). Finally, we calculated Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity, chi-square (10) = 450.16, p < .001, and the Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy, .78.
marjanovic2013 - p. 5
PCA showed that all of the FTS items loaded onto a single component (eigenvalue = 3.45), which accounted for 68.94% of the variance in the measure. Only one component was extracted and thus no rotation was conducted. All item loadings were high, between .76 and .88. The FTS’ internal consistency was also shown to be good, well above the standard criterion of .70, at alpha = .89.
marjanovic2013 - p. 8
Thus, financial threat is more than just another personality trait, reflecting an enduring dispositional style, or a situational measure reflecting undulating environmental pressures. These data suggest financial threat is more like a combination of the two—heavily influenced by situational pressures, but naturally higher in some individuals than others.