Financial threat and psychological resilience in student and community samples: An opportunistic, exploratory study

This study examined the relationship between psychological resilience-the ability to recover from stress and adversity-and financial threat, defined as the perception of one's financial situation as uncertain, risky, and overwhelming, in student and community samples during a period of global stress. This opportunistic and exploratory study used the COVID-19 pandemic as a context to investigate these constructs while also further evaluating the psychometric properties of the Financial Threat Scale (FTS), including internal consistency and test-retest reliability. FTS scores were moderately and negatively correlated with psychological resilience at both time points in the community sample, whereas findings in the student sample were mixed. FTS scores also decreased over time in the community sample, consistent with broader economic changes. The FTS demonstrated excellent internal consistency and acceptable test-retest reliability across samples. These findings indicate that higher psychological resilience is associated with lower financial threat and provide further evidence of the FTS's test-retest reliability.