ABSTRACT
This cross-sectional study investigated the perception and motivation of forgiveness among 785 heterosexually married adults from the Flanders region in Belgium. A descriptive analysis showed that, in general, the respondents have a rather positive perception of forgiveness. In the second phase of the study, a t-test showed evidence of a significant difference between the positive perception of forgiveness of the first-married and remarried adults. But on a gender level, there was no difference either in the positive or in the negative scales. This study has shown that the general forgiveness has significant (p < 0.001) positive correlation with the perception of forgiveness.
Subject(s)
Adaptation, Psychological/physiology , Attitude , Interpersonal Relations , Marriage/psychology , Motivation , Perception/physiology , Adult , Affect/physiology , Belgium , Cross-Sectional Studies , Female , Humans , Male , Marriage/statistics & numerical data , Middle Aged , Personality Inventory , Psychometrics/methods , Psychometrics/statistics & numerical data , Sex DistributionABSTRACT
This study examined the reliability, construct validity, and factor pattern of the Dutch version of the Enright Forgiveness Inventory (EFI) in a sample of 731 respondents (heterosexually married adults, 359 males and 372 females) in Belgium. The Cronbach alpha for EFI total (.98) and all its subscales, Positive Affect (PA) (.95), Negative Affect (NA) (.92), Positive Behaviour (PB) (.94), Negative Behaviour (NB) (.94), Positive Cognition (PC) (.95), Negative Cognition (NC) (.93) were high. The construct validity of the scale was measured by a 1-item scale. The 1-item scale proved to be positive, strong and significantly (p < .001) correlated with EFI (.73). Principal components analysis in an Initial Factor Method found a one-factor solution confirming the unidimensional structure of EFI.
