Willingness to Forgive Scale

Structure, reliability and factorial invariance

Authors

  • Valdiney Veloso GOUVEIA Universidade Federal da Paraíba, Centro de Ciências Humanas, Letras e Artes, Departamento de Psicologia.
  • Leogildo Alves FREIRES Universidade Federal de Roraima, Centro de Educação, Curso de Psicologia.
  • Rildésia Silva Veloso GOUVEIA Centro Universitário de João Pessoa, Departamento de Ciências Jurídicas, Curso de Direito.
  • José Farias de SOUZA FILHO Centro Universitário de João Pessoa, Departamento de Ciências Jurídicas, Curso de Direito.
  • Roosevelt Vilar Lobo de SOUZA Universidade Federal da Paraíba, Centro de Ciências Humanas Letras e Artes, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Psicologia Social
  • Renan Pereira MONTEIRO Universidade Federal da Paraíba, Centro de Ciências Humanas Letras e Artes, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Psicologia Social

Keywords:

Testing, Forgiveness, Validity

Abstract

The aim of the article was to adapt the Willingness to Forgive Scale for the Brazilian context and to know its evidence of validity (factorial and convergent) and reliability (internal consistency, homogeneity, and composite reliability). In this regard, two studies were conducted. In study 1, 220 undergraduate students from a private university from João Pessoa, Paraíba, with a mean age of 24 years (81.7% female) answered the Willingness to Forgive Scale and demographic questions. A principal components analysis revealed a one-factor structure, which accounted for 44.3% of the total variance, with a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.88. In study 2, 302 undergraduate students from a public university in the same city, with mean age of 22 years (52.3% men) answered the same instruments. A confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the one-factor structure (Goodness-of-Fit Index = 0.90, Root Mean-Square Error of Approximation = 0.09), which showed to be invariant regarding participants’ gender (ÄRoot Mean-Square Error of Approximation <0.01). Furthermore, good indicators of reliability (á = 0.85, homogeneity = 0.30, and composite reliability = 0.85) were observed showing evidence of convergent validity (Mean Extracted Variance = 0.82). In conclusion, this measure collected evidence of validity and reliability considering the research context; nevertheless, further studies must be conducted to verify its temporal stability and discriminant validity.

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Published

2023-03-31

How to Cite

GOUVEIA, V. V., FREIRES, L. A., GOUVEIA, R. S. V., SOUZA FILHO, J. F. de, SOUZA, R. V. L. de, & MONTEIRO, R. P. (2023). Willingness to Forgive Scale: Structure, reliability and factorial invariance. Psychological Studies, 32(2). Retrieved from https://periodicos.puc-campinas.edu.br/estpsi/article/view/8137

Issue

Vol. 32 No. 2 (2015): Estudos de Psicologia (Campinas)

Section

INSTRUMENTS AND PROCESSES IN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT

License

Copyright (c) 2023 Valdiney Veloso GOUVEIA, Leogildo Alves FREIRES, Rildésia Silva Veloso GOUVEIA, José Farias de SOUZA FILHO, Roosevelt Vilar Lobo de SOUZA, Renan Pereira MONTEIRO

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.