Validation and measurement invariance of the Personal Financial Wellness Scale: Evidence from Chilean Young Adults by Gender, Ethnicity, and Employment Status

Background Financial well-being is a key determinant of quality of life, since it reflects the individual's ability to meet current and ongoing financial obligations, feel secure about their financial future, and make choices that allow enjoyment of life. This is particularly important contexts with high inequality and uncertainty such as the case of Chile where many individuals rely on consumer credit from retail and banking institutions for monthly expenses. Therefore, having an instrument the reliably measures said variable across different sociodemographic groups, such as gender, ethnicity, and employment status is essential. Methods This study examined the psychometric properties of the Personal Financial Wellness Scale (PFWS) among Chilean emerging adults. An adapted version of the PFWS was administered to 624 university and technical students (64.1% women), aged 18 to 29 years (M = 20.44, SD = 3.35). Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling (ESEM) was used to test the factorial structure, and multigroup analyses evaluated measurement invariance across gender, ethnicity, and employment status. Results Results supported a two-factor model, financial distress and financial well-being, with satisfactory internal consistency and model fit. Partial measurement invariance was established across ethnicity and employment status, with changes in fit indices remaining within acceptable thresholds (ΔCFI ≤ .01, ΔRMSEA ≤ .015, ΔSRMR ≤ .030). For ethnicity, constraints on item 7 were released, and for employment status, intercepts of items 4 and 7 were relaxed. In contrast, full invariance was achieved across gender, with non-significant model comparisons (χ²(26) = 42.350, p = .023; χ²(52) = 61.946, p = .163) and stable fit indices across nested models (ΔCFI = 0.000, ΔRMSEA = 0.005, ΔSRMR = 0.013). Conclusions These findings confirm that the PFWS captures essential dimensions of financial well-being in a culturally sensitive way, supporting its use as an early detection tool for financial distress and for guiding targeted interventions in socioeconomically vulnerable young adults.