Measuring adolescent forgiveness: validity of the Tendency to Forgive Scale in Chinese adolescents

The Tendency to Forgive Scale is a self-reported instrument for measuring dispositional forgiveness. Although the TTF has been used in many countries, few studies systematically examined the psychometric properties of the TTF in Chinese adolescents. The purpose of this study was to verify the construct and criterion-related validity of the Tendency to Forgive Scale in Chinese adolescents and assess its measurement invariance across gender and rural-urban groups. The current sample included 501 Chinese high school students. In this study, Cronbach's alpha coefficient of the TTF was 0.61. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the factorial structure of the Tendency to Forgive Scale had a good model fit (chi(2)(2) = 2.94, p > 0.05, CFI = 0.995, SRMR = 0.018, RMSEA = 0.031, NNFI = 0.986), and multi-group confirmatory factor analyses proved that measurement invariance held across gender and rural-urban groups. Furthermore, the scale had good criterion-related validity in relation to life satisfaction, positive affect and negative affect and these relationships were not modulated by gender and residence, In conclusion, these findings indicated that the Tendency to Forgive Scale would be a reliable and valid tool to assess dispositional forgiveness in Chinese adolescents.