Incharge Financial Distress/Financial Well-Being Scale: Development, Administration, and Score Interpretation

Abstract

This article describes development of the InCharge Financial Distress/Financial Well-Being Scale, designed to measure a latent construct representing responses to one’s financial state on a continuum ranging from overwhelming financial distress/lowest level of financial well-being to no financial distress/highest level of financial well-being. It describes a formative Delphi study, validity criteria and testing, factor analysis, Cronbach’s alpha coefficients, administration instructions, norming of the data and score interpretation, and implications for use.

Keywords: economic stress, financial distress, financial stress, financial well-being, personal finance