Tendency to Forgive Scale (TTFS)

Abstract

The Tendency to Forgive Scale (TTFS) is a brief, 10-item psychometric instrument developed by Jaquaye Russell in 2013 as part of a doctoral dissertation focused on youth emotional adjustment. The TTFS is designed to measure an individual’s stable, dispositional inclination toward unforgiveness, characterized by the maintenance of anger, resentment, and a desire for retribution following interpersonal offense. The items reflect behaviors and attitudes associated with holding grudges and difficulty letting go of past hurts, providing a quantitative measure of the enduring barriers to forgiveness.

Keywords

Forgiveness, Unforgiveness, Dispositional, Youth, Adolescent, Resentment, Grudges, Psychometric, Interpersonal Conflict

Authors

Jaquaye Russell

Purpose

The primary purpose of the TTFS is to assess individual differences in the tendency to harbor negative feelings and thoughts toward an offender over time. It serves as a tool for researchers and clinicians studying the long-term emotional consequences of perceived harm, particularly among younger populations. The scale helps differentiate individuals who naturally move toward emotional reconciliation from those who maintain a state of chronic unforgiveness, often characterized by rumination and retaliatory impulses.

The development of the TTFS was integral to a larger study alongside measures such as the Level of Anger Scale (LSS) and the Anger and Support Scale (AAS), suggesting its utility in examining the interrelationship between dispositional forgiveness, anger management, and perceived social support in youth.

Construct

The TTFS measures the psychological construct of Unforgiveness Tendency, which is defined as a relatively stable personality trait reflecting the habitual difficulty in overcoming negative affect and cognitive commitment to an offense. Unlike state forgiveness (which refers to a response to a specific transgression), the TTFS assesses the general, underlying disposition. High scores on the TTFS indicate a strong tendency toward holding grudges, seeking revenge, and experiencing persistent negative memories related to past hurts, effectively capturing the resistance to emotional and cognitive closure.

Validity

Initial validity evidence for the TTFS was established during its development phase in 2013. Content Validity was ensured through the derivation of items directly reflecting core aspects of unforgiveness, such as rumination, revenge motivation, and the inability to let go of an offense. While specific details on the initial validation sample size are required from the source document, Convergent Validity was likely explored by correlating TTFS scores positively with measures of related negative constructs, such as the Level of Anger Scale (LSS) and the Anger and Support Scale (AAS), as mentioned in the source material. Conversely, scores would be expected to correlate negatively with established measures of positive psychological constructs, such as empathy or proactive coping mechanisms.

Reliability

In the initial instrument development study, the internal consistency reliability of the TTFS was assessed. Internal Consistency, typically measured using Cronbach's alpha, is expected to be robust, given the uniform negative valence of all 10 items. A high alpha coefficient would suggest that all items consistently measure the same underlying construct of unforgiveness. Further research would be required to establish Test-Retest Reliability, confirming the stability of this dispositional measure over time.

Factor Analysis

The development process for the TTFS likely included an Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) to confirm the scale’s underlying structure. Given the brevity and the uniform thematic content of the 10 items (all related to retention of hurt and negative actions), the TTFS is strongly hypothesized to be a unidimensional scale, measuring a single factor—the general tendency toward unforgiveness. The factor analysis would aim to demonstrate that all 10 items load significantly onto this single factor, confirming the scale’s structural integrity as a measure of a single, cohesive dispositional trait.

Instrument

Test Type: Self-report psychological inventory

Format: The instrument uses a 5-point Likert Scale response format. Respondents indicate their level of agreement with each statement using the following options: Strongly Disagree, Mildly Disagree, Agree and Disagree equally, Mildly Agree, and Strongly Agree.

Language Available: English (Original development language)

Population Group: Clinical and General Population

Age Group: Youth and Adolescents (The instrument was developed specifically within the context of youth studies, though its utility may extend to adult populations.)

Population Details: Developed based on samples drawn from university settings for the study “Instrument Development: Youth Anger, Youth Forgiveness, and Youth Emotional Support.”

Test Methodology: Respondents rate the extent to which each statement reflects their typical behavior or attitude regarding how they respond to being hurt by others. All 10 items are phrased negatively, meaning higher scores indicate a greater tendency toward unforgiveness.

Keywords

Psychological Assessment, Scale Development, Self-Report, Resentment, Revenge, Dispositional Forgiveness, Youth Studies, Likert Scale

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not publicly available in source documentation.

Affiliation Email addresses: Not publicly available in source documentation.

Correspondence Address: Correspondence is typically directed through the institution where the research was conducted (University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, 2013).

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

Test Year: 2013

Permissions and Fees: As the instrument was originally developed as part of an academic dissertation, permissions for use are generally subject to the standard terms set by the author (Jaquaye Russell) and the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee Institutional Repository. Researchers should consult the original publication for specific usage guidelines.

Reference’s

Russell, Jaquaye. “Instrument Development: Youth Anger, Youth Forgiveness, and Youth Emotional Support” (2013). University of Wisconsin Milwaukee. Theses and Dissertations. Paper 264.

The original dissertation detailing the instrument development, including scale administration and initial psychometric properties, can be accessed through the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee electronic thesis and dissertation repository. The original PDF can be downloaded here: http://dc.uwm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1269&context=etd

Items of the Tendency to Forgive Scale (TTFS)

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

• I hold grudges.
• Some things you just cannot forgive.
• It is hard for me to let hurtful things go.
• When someone hurts me‚ I often remind them of what they did.
• My parents think I stay angry at others for a long time.
• When someone hurts me‚ I have to get even.
• When someone hurts me‚ I keep track of how many times they have hurt me.
• When someone does something hurtful to me‚ memories of the hurt surface.
• When bad things happen to people who have hurt me‚ I get happy.
• Even after someone says they are sorry‚ I talk about what they did to me.