Willingness to Forgive Scale: Structure, reliability and factorial invariance

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 (ΔRoot Mean-Square Error of Approximation <0.01). Furthermore, good indicators of reliability (α = 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.

Testing; Forgiveness; Validity