This quantitative study adapted the Academic Motivation Scale (AMS) to the Financial Calculus context in higher education. It examined the preliminary psychometric properties of the resulting Financial Literacy Academic Motivation Scale (FLAMS). The 28 AMS items were translated, contextually adapted, and administered to 164 Portuguese undergraduate students enrolled in Financial Calculus during the 2023/2024 and 2024/2025 academic years. Exploratory analysis was used to inspect within-sample item patterns, while confirmatory factor analysis was conducted in the same pooled sample to compare theoretically plausible candidate structures. The refined five-factor, 21-item model, comprising amotivation, external regulation, introjected regulation, identified regulation, and a general a relative improvement over the alternative models considered. Internal consistency was acceptable to high across the retained factors. However, the model did not meet conventional close-fit benchmarks, and the analyses did not provide independent cross-validation or evidence of measurement invariance across academic cohorts. The findings should therefore be interpreted as initial evidence for a context-specific candidate structure rather than as a definitive validation of FLAMS. Future research should replicate the model in larger independent samples, test measurement invariance across cohorts and institutional contexts, and examine associations with external criteria, including Financial Calculus grades, financial-literacy learning outcomes, engagement, and persistence.
Rêgo et al. (Tue,) studied this question.