Experienced Financial Instability: the Adaptation of the Financial Threat Scale (FTS) to the Russian Sample

Background. Economic instability and uncertainty increase the subjective perception of financial risks, creating feelings of anxiety and threat among the population. Under these conditions, there is a growing need for reliable and valid instruments for measuring financial stress adapted to the Russian cultural context.

Objective. The study aimed to adapt and psychometrically validate the Russian version of the Financial Threat Scale (FTS), designed to assess the subjective perception of economic instability and financial anxiety.

Study Participants. The study involved 555 respondents (Mage = 37.55), including 328 women (59.1%) and 227 men (40.9%).

Methods. The study employed the Russian version of the Financial Threat Scale (FTS), questionnaires measuring personality traits based on the Big Five model, the Life Orientation Test-Revised (LOT-R) for dispositional optimism, the WHO-5 Well-Being Index, the Doomscrolling Scale, as well as questions on socio-demographic characteristics, including subjective income level, gender and age.

Results. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses confirmed the one-factor structure of the scale and its high internal consistency (α = 0.914; ω = 0.915). It was found that the perception of financial threat decreases with age, income and optimism growth, and is connected to gender (higher among women). Financial threat experiencing was negatively associated with extraversion and emotional stability and positively connected to conscientiousness, reflecting the importance of emotional resilience and self-control in perceiving financial risks. The positive relationship of financial threat perception to the values on the Kantianism scale (as a part of “The Light triad” of personality) may indicate a moral and normative interpretation of financial threats. The negative association of financial threat experiencing with the WHO-5 index demonstrates the association of financial stress with a decrease in subjective well-being. The association with doomscrolling confirms the role of media consumption as a factor amplifying the perception of economic instability.

Conclusions. The Russian version of the Financial Threat Scale (FTS) demonstrated high reliability, construct, and conceptual validity, making it a suitable tool for research and applied purposes to assess the perception of financial risks, stress, and their psychological consequences in the Russian sociocultural context.

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