https://doi.org/10.4081/ripppo.2021.500
Construct validity of two measures of self-forgiveness in Portugal: a study of self-forgiveness, psychological symptoms, and well-being
Submitted: September 18, 2020
Accepted: December 29, 2020
Published: March 30, 2021
Accepted: December 29, 2020
Abstract Views: 11152
PDF: 765
Appendix: 136
HTML: 37
Appendix: 136
HTML: 37
Publisher's note
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.
Authors
Several studies have suggested that self-forgiveness promotes psychological well-being. The state self-forgiveness scale (SSFS) and the differentiated self-forgiveness process scale (DSFPS) are two self-report questionnaires that assess self-forgiveness in psychotherapy, personal change, and health. The present study aims to examine the psychometric properties of the SSFS and the DSFPS in a Portuguese sample, highlighting reliability and validity properties for scores on both scales. We examine the relationships among self-forgiveness, self-criticism, psychological well-being, and global psychopathological symptoms. The two scales were completed in a random nonclinical sample of 475 University students. The psychological well-being scale was used to explore the relation between self-forgiveness and well-being. Our findings show evidence of a good estimated internal consistency for scores on both scales - SSFS and DSFPS. Self-forgiveness is related to higher indexes of positive feelings (e.g., self-compassion, self-esteem) such as positive behaviors and beliefs about the self. Thus, self-criticism (e.g., hated self) tends to decrease while self-forgiveness feelings and actions, as well as positive feelings of the self (self-compassion; self-love) tends to increase. In clinical practice these are positive indicators, which can lead to personal improvement, as well as positive affect and lower symptomatology (e.g., symptoms of depression).
Bagozzi, R. P., & Kimmel, S. K. (1995). A comparison of leading theories for the prediction of goal-directed behaviors. British Journal of Social Psychology, 34, 437-461. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-8309.1995.tb01076.x
Ballard, R. (1992). Short forms of the Marlowe-Crowne social desirability scale. Psychological Reports, 71, 1155-1160. https://doi.org/10.2466/PR0.71.1155-1160
Beaton, D. E., Bombardier, C., Guillemin, F., & Ferraz, B. (2000). Guidelines for the process of cross-cultural adaptation of self-report measures. SPINE, 25, 3186-3191. https://doi.org/10.1097/00007632-200012150-00014
Byrne, B. M. (2010). Multivariate applications series. Structural equation modeling with AMOS: Basic concepts, applications, and programming (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group.
Canavarro, M. (1995). Inventário de sintomas psicopatológicas - B.S.I. In Simões, M., Gonçalves, M. & Almeida, L. (Eds.), Testes e Provas Psicológicas em Portugal, 2, (pp. 95-109). Braga: APPORT/SHO.
Castilho, P., & Gouveia, J. P. (2011). Autocriticismo: Estudo de validação da versão portuguesa da escala das formas do autocriticismo e autotranquilização (FSCRS) e da escala das funções do autocriticismo e auto-ataque (FSCS). Psychologica, 54, 63-86. https://doi.org/10.14195/1647-8606
Cornish, M. A., & Wade, N. G. (2015). Working through past wrongdoing: Examination of a self-forgiveness counseling intervention. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 62, 521-528. https://doi.org/10.1037/cou0000080
Davis, D. E., Ho, M. Y., Griffin, B. J., Bell, C., Hook, J. N., Van Tongeren, D. R., ... & Westbrook, C. J. (2015). Forgiving the self and physical and mental health correlates: A meta-analytic review. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 62, 329–335. https://doi.org/10.1037/cou0000063
Derogatis, L. R., & Spencer, P. M. (1982). Brief Symptom Inventory: Administration, scoring, and procedure manual. Baltimore, MD: Clinical Psychometric Re-search.
Ferreira, T., Sousa, M., Meira, L., Cunha, C., Santos, A., Silva, S., … & Salgado, J. (2019). Brief assessment of depression: psychometric properties of the Portuguese version of the patient health questionnaire (PHQ-9). The Psychologist: Practice & Research Journal, 1, 1-15. https://doi.org/10.33525/pprj.v1i2.36
Fisher, M. L., & Exline, J. J. (2006). Self-forgiveness versus excusing: the roles of remorse, effort, and acceptance of responsibility. Self and Identity, 5, 127-146. https://doi.org/10.1080/15298860600586123
Gilbert, P., & Andrews, B. (1998). Shame: Interpersonal behavior, psychopathology, and culture. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Gilbert, P., Clarke, M., Hempel, S., Miles, J.N.V., & Irons, C. (2004). Criticizing and reassuring oneself: An exploration of forms, styles and reasons in female students. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 43, 31-50. https://doi.org/10.1348/014466504772812959
Greenberg, L. S., Warwar, S. H., & Malcolm, W. M. (2008). Differential effects of emotion-focused therapy and psychoeducation in facilitating forgiveness and letting go of emotional injuries. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 55, 185-196. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0167.55.2.185
Kline, R. B. (2016). Principles and practices of structural equation modelling (Ed.4). New York: The Guilford Press.
Kroenke, K., Spitzer, R. L., & Williams, J. B. (2001). The PHQ-9. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 16, 606-613. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1525-1497.2001.016009606.x
Liao, K. Y., & Wei, M. (2015). Insecure attachment and depressive symptoms: Forgiveness of self and others as moderators. Personal Relationship, 22, 216-229. https://doi.org/10.1111/pere.12075
Mardia, K. V. (1970). Measures of multivariate skewness and kurtosis with applications. JSTOR, 5, 519-530. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2334770
McDonald, R. P., & Ho, M. R. (2002). Principles and practice in reporting structural equation analyses. Psychological Methods, 7, 64-82. https://doi.org/10.1037/1082-989X.7.1.64
Muthén, B. (1983). A general structural equation model with dichotomous, ordered categorical, and continuous latent variable indicators. Psychometrika, 49, 115-132.
Novo, R. F., Duarte-Silva, M. E., & Peralta, E. (1997). O bem-estar psicológico em adultos: Estudo das características psicométricas da versão portuguesa das escalas de C. Ryff. In M. Gonçalves, I. Ribeiro, S. Araújo, C. Machado, L. Almeida, M. Simões (Eds.), Avaliação Psicológica: Formas e Contextos (pp. 313-324). Braga: Associação dos Psicólogos Portugueses.
Nunnally, J. C., & Bernstein, I. H. (1994). The assessment of reliability. Psychometric Theory, 3, 248-292.
Pechorro, P., Vieira, R. X., Poiares, C., & Marôco, J. (2012). Contributos para a validação duma versão curta da Escala de Desejabilidade Social de Marlowe-Crowne com adolescentes portugueses. Arquivos de Medicina, 26.
Recoder, S., Gámiz, M., Worthington, E. L., Jr., Davis, D., & Fernandéz-Capo, M. (2019). Decisional forgiveness across spanish and american samples: translation, validation, and measurement invariance of the decision to forgive scale. Current Psychology, 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-019-00368-w
Rosseel, Y. (2012). lavaan: An R Package for structural equation modeling. Journal of Statistical Software, 48, 1-36. https://doi.org/10.18637/jss.v048.i02
Ryff, C. D. (1989). Happiness is everything, or is it? Explorations on the meaning of psychological well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57, 1069-1081. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.57.6.1069
Thompson, L. Y., Snyder, C. R., Hoffman, L., Michael, S. T., Rasmussen, H. N., Billings, L. S., ... & Roberts, D. E. (2005). Dispositional forgiveness of self, others, and situations. Journal of Personality, 73, 313-359. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6494.2005.00311.x
Toussaint, L., & Webb, J. R. (2005). Theoretical and empirical connections between forgiveness, mental health, and well-being. In E. L. Worthington, Jr. (Ed.), Handbook of forgiveness (pp. 349-362). New York, NY: Brunner-Routledge.
Toussaint, L. L., Worthington, E. L., & Williams, D. R. (2015). Forgiveness and Health: Scientific Evidence and Theories Relating Forgiveness to Better Health. Springer Science + Business Media. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9993-5.
Tucker, L. R., & Lewis, C. (1973). A reliability coefficient for maximum likelihood factor analysis. Psychometrika, 38, 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02291170
Wade, N. G., Hoyt, W. T., Kidwell, J. E. M., & Worthington, E. L., Jr. (2014). Efficacy of psychotherapeutic interventions to promote forgiveness: a meta-analysis. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 82, 154-170. https://doi.org/10.10667a0035268
Webb, J. R., Robinson, E. A. R., & Brower, K. J. (2012). Mental health, not social support, mediates the forgiveness-alcohol outcome relationship. Psychological Addictive Behaviors, 25, 462-473. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0022502
Wenzel, M., Woodyatt, L., & Hedrick, K. (2012). No genuine self-forgiveness without accepting responsibility: value reaffirmation as a key to maintaining positive self-regard. European Journal of Social Psychology, 42, 617-627. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.1873
Wenzel, M., Woodyatt, L., Okimoto, T. G., & Worthington, E. L. (2020). Dynamics of moral repair: forgiveness, self-forgiveness, and the restoration of value consensus as interdependent processes. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. Advance online. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167220937551
Whelton, W. J. (2000). Emotion in self-criticism (Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation). University of York, Canada.
Wilson, T., Milosevic, A., Carroll, M., Hart, K, & Hibbard, S. (2008). Physical health status in relation to self-forgiveness and other-forgiveness in healthy college students. Journal of Health Psychology, 13, 798-803. https://doi.org/10.1177/1359105308093863
Wohl, M. J. A., Pychyl, T. A., & Bennett, S. H. (2010). I forgive myself, now I can study: How self-forgiveness for procrastinating can reduce future procrastination? Personality and Indiviual Differences, 48, 803-808. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2010.01.029
Wohl, M. J. A., DeShea, L., & Wahkinney, R. L. (2008). Looking within: measuring state self-forgiveness and its relationship to psychological well-being. Canadian Journal of Behavioral Science, 40, 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1037/0008-400x.40.1.1.1
Wohl, M. J. A., & McLaughlin, K. J. (2014). Self-forgiveness: the good, the bad, and the ugly. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 8, 422-435. https://doi.org/10.1111/spc3.12119
Woodyatt, L., & Wenzel, M. (2013). Self-forgiveness and restoration of an offender following an interpersonal transgression. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 32, 221-254. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9993-5_19
Woodyatt, L., Worthington, E. L., Jr., Wenzel, M., & Griffin, B. J. (Eds.) (2017). Handbook of the psychology of self-forgiveness. Switzerland: Springer.
Worthington, E. L., Jr. (2013). Moving forward: Six steps to forgiving yourself and breaking free from the past. Colorado Springs, CO: WaterBrook & Multnomah.
Worthington, E. L., Wade, N. G. (Eds.) (2020). Handbook of forgiveness, 2nd ed. New York: Routledge.
Worthington, E. L., Jr., & Langberg, D. (2012). Religious considerations and self-forgiveness in treating trauma in present and former soldiers. Journal of Psychology and Theology, 40, 274-288. https://doi.org/10.1177/009164711204000403
How to Cite
Costa, L., Worthington, Jr., E. L., Cavadas Montanha, C., Couto, A. B., & Cunha, C. (2021). Construct validity of two measures of self-forgiveness in Portugal: a study of self-forgiveness, psychological symptoms, and well-being. Research in Psychotherapy: Psychopathology, Process and Outcome, 24(1). https://doi.org/10.4081/ripppo.2021.500
PAGEPress has chosen to apply the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0) to all manuscripts to be published.
Similar Articles
- Bruno Faustino, António Branco Vasco, João Delgado, António Farinha-Fernandes, José Carlos Guerreiro, Exploring the impacts of COVID-19 related social distancing on loneliness, psychological needs and symptomatology , Research in Psychotherapy: Psychopathology, Process and Outcome: Vol. 23 No. 3 (2020)
- Federica Bonazza, Lidia Borghi, Eugenia Cao di San Marco, Kyrie Piscopo, Francesca Bai, Antonella d’Arminio Monforte, Elena Vegni, Psychological outcomes after hospitalization for COVID-19: data from a multidisciplinary follow-up screening program for recovered patients , Research in Psychotherapy: Psychopathology, Process and Outcome: Vol. 23 No. 3 (2020)
- Guadalupe de la Iglesia, Juliana Beatriz Stover, Mercedes Fernàndez Liporace, Alejandro Castro Solano, Listado de sÃntomas breve (short checklist of symptoms) in Argentinean adults: psychometric study of its main clinical scales , Research in Psychotherapy: Psychopathology, Process and Outcome: Vol. 19 No. 1 (2016): Special issue on Qualitative and Quantitative Research in Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy: part 2
- Chiara Manfredi, Gabriele Caselli, Federica Pescini, Martina Rossi, Daniela Rebecchi, Giovanni Maria Ruggiero, Sandra Sassaroli, Parental criticism, self-criticism and their relation to depressive mood: an exploratory study among a non-clinical population , Research in Psychotherapy: Psychopathology, Process and Outcome: Vol. 19 No. 1 (2016): Special issue on Qualitative and Quantitative Research in Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy: part 2
- Linnea Nissling, Sandra Weineland, Kristofer Vernmark, Ella Radvogin, Anna-Karin Engström, Sara Schmidt, Eva Nieto Granberg, Elin Larsson, Timo Hursti, Effectiveness of and processes related to internet-delivered acceptance and commitment therapy for adolescents with anxiety disorders: a randomized controlled trial , Research in Psychotherapy: Psychopathology, Process and Outcome: Vol. 26 No. 2 (2023)
- Giorgio Falgares, Sandro De Santis, Salvatore Gullo, Danilo Carrozzino, Daniela Marchetti, Maria Cristina Verrocchio, Gianluca Lo Coco, Daniel Kopala-Sibley, Osmano Oasi, The Italian version of the Depressive Experiences Questionnaire: psychometric properties and validation in students, community, and clinical groups , Research in Psychotherapy: Psychopathology, Process and Outcome: Vol. 20 No. 1 (2017)
- Antonino La Tona, Sofia Tagini, Agostino Brugnera, Barbara Poletti, Edoardo Nicolò Aiello, Gianluca Lo Coco, Lidia Del Piccolo, Angelo Compare, Italian validation of the Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation-10 (CORE-10): a short measure for routine outcome monitoring in clinical practice , Research in Psychotherapy: Psychopathology, Process and Outcome: Vol. 26 No. 1 (2023)
- Chiara Rossi, Francesca De Salve, Martina Agliati, Osmano Oasi , Coping strategies and mental health: A web-based survey among the Italian population dealing with COVID-19 , Research in Psychotherapy: Psychopathology, Process and Outcome: Vol. 25 No. 2 (2022)
- Rosalba Di Biase, Chris Evans, Daniela Rebecchi, Flavia Baccari, Anna Saltini, Elena Bravi, Gaspare Palmieri, Fabrizio Starace, Exploration of psychometric properties of the Italian version of the Core Young Person’s Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation (YP-CORE) , Research in Psychotherapy: Psychopathology, Process and Outcome: Vol. 24 No. 2 (2021): SPECIAL ISSUE "Working on dreams, from psychotherapy to neuroscience"
- Alice Fiorini Bincoletto, Ludovica Zanini, Grazia Fernanda Spitoni, Vittorio Lingiardi, Negative and positive ageism in an Italian sample: how ageist beliefs relate to epistemic trust, psychological distress, and well-being , Research in Psychotherapy: Psychopathology, Process and Outcome: Vol. 26 No. 2 (2023)
You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.
