Further validation of the Forgiveness of Self (FOS) and Forgiveness of Others (FOO) scales and development of the Potential Barriers to Forgiveness scale
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to further validate two existing measures of forgiveness, the Forgiveness of Self (FOS) and Forgiveness of Others (FOO) scales, and to develop a scale designed to measure barriers to forgiveness, specifically false forgiveness. Literature relating to forgiveness, and scale construction was reviewed in detail, providing a rationale for the study. Subjects (N = 227) recruited from a large midwestern university completed a questionnaire in which forgiving attitudes toward self, forgiving attitudes toward others, false forgiveness, age, relationship satisfaction and fear of intimacy were measured. Results indicate that the FOO and FOS scales have adequate reliability and validity, but that the FOO scale may be biased with false forgiveness. A new scale was developed, which has been named the Potential Barriers to Forgiveness (PBF) scale. The scale consists of two orthogonal subscales, "Attitudes Leading to Non-Forgiveness" (ALNOF) and "False Forgiveness" (FF). These subscales appear to have good psychometric properties. The "Attitudes Leading to Non-Forgiveness" (ALNOF) scale has high reliability (a =.89) as does the "False Forgiveness" (FF) scale (a =.80). These scales were used in several analyses to further investigate their validity. Scores on the first subscale (ALNOF) were found to relate positively to fear of intimacy (r =.30, p $<$.01), while scores on the second subscale (FF) were not correlated with fear of intimacy (r = $-$.07). The ALNOF subscale was negatively related to relationship satisfaction (r = $-$.22, p $<$.01), while the FF subscale was not significantly correlated with relationship satisfaction (r =.02). The correlations between the two subscales and age revealed no significant relationships. The ALNOF subscale was positively correlated with social desirability (r =.35; p $<$.01), whereas the FF subscale did not significantly correlate with social desirability (r = $-$.11; p $>$.10). Implications for future research in this area are discussed.
Degree
Ph.D.
Advisors
Sprenkle, Purdue University.
Subject Area
Families & family life|Personal relationships|Sociology|Psychotherapy|Social research|Psychological tests
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