Cross-Validation of the Psychological Antifragility Scale (PAS) in Filipino College Students: Examining Factor Structure and Construct Validity

Psychological antifragility, defined as the capacity to grow, strengthen, and undergo positive transformation through adversity, uncertainty, and stress, is a relatively new construct in psychology. Although the Psychological Antifragility Scale (PAS) was recently developed, no study to date has cross-validated its psychometric properties. Thus, the present study aimed to provide the first cross-validation of the PAS among Filipino college students by examining its reliability, factor structure, and construct validity within a normative stress context. A total of 326 Filipino college students participated in the study. Internal consistency reliability was assessed using Cronbach’s alpha, while Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) using maximum likelihood estimation was conducted to evaluate the hypothesized three-factor structure. Cross-validation was performed by randomly dividing the sample into two sub-samples. Lastly, convergent and discriminant validity were examined through correlations with resilience, post-traumatic growth, anxiety, and depression measures. Results showed that the PAS demonstrated good internal consistency reliability (α = .820). Initial CFA findings indicated that the original three-factor model did not adequately fit the data. However, after model refinement, the revised model demonstrated acceptable fit across both sub-samples (Sample 1: RMSEA = .061, SRMR = .055, CFI =.953, TLI = .934; Sample 2: RMSEA = .065, SRMR = .055, CFI = .931, TLI = .903). Evidence for convergent validity was supported through significant positive correlations with resilience (r = .193, p < .001) and post- traumatic growth (r = .421, p < .001). Discriminant validity was only partially supported due to positive correlations with depression (r = .144, p = .009) and anxiety (r = .122, p = .028). Overall, the findings provide preliminary support for the PAS as a potentially useful measure of psychological antifragility among Filipino college students while highlighting the need for further theoretical and psychometric refinement.

Psychological Antifragility Scale (PAS), CFA, Construct Validity, Filipino college students

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