Abstract
The 18-item Transgression-Related Interpersonal Motivations Inventory (TRIM-18) is a three-dimensional measure of contextual forgiveness widely used in contexts of psychopathology. The present study aimed to examine the psychometric properties of the TRIM-18 in Italian adolescents.
In study 1 and 2 we examined the internal validity of the scale using Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) in a sample of 724 students (females = 67.8%; Mage = 16.26, SD = 5.21), and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), in an independent sample of 802 students (females = 51.1%; mean age = 15.95, SD = 1.49). In study 3 we examined the convergent, discriminant, criterion and construct validity in a sample of 274 students (females = 59.1%; Mage = 14.32, SD = 2.73) with measures of forgiveness, positive and negative affect and psychopathology symptoms.
EFA confirmed the three original factors, Avoidance, Revenge, and Benevolence and CFA supported the three-factorial structure of the scale. The average variance extracted values of the three TRIM-18 factors in study three provided evidence of convergent and discriminant validity. The correlations between the TRIM-18 scales and the forgiveness measures ranged from strong to moderate, supporting its convergent validity. Similarly, the correlations with affect, and psychopathology measures in expected directions supported the construct validity of the TRIM-18 scales. Results showed strong composite reliability estimates in each sample for all three factors (>.84).
The Italian adaptation of the TRIM-18 demonstrated good psychometric properties supporting its reliability and validity as a measure of three forgiveness facets including Avoidance, Revenge, and Benevolence, that are associated with psychopathology in adolescents.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ahmed, E., & Braithwaite, V. (2006). Forgiveness, reconciliation, and shame: Three key variables in reducing school bullying. Journal of Social Issues, 62(2), 347–370.
Akhtar, S., & Barlow, J. (2018). Forgiveness therapy for the promotion of mental well-being: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Trauma, Violence, and Abuse, 19(1), 107–122. https://doi.org/10.1177/1524838016637079.
Barcaccia, B., Schneider, B. H., Pallini, S., & Baiocco, R. (2017). Bullying and the detrimental role of un-forgiveness in adolescents’ wellbeing. Psicothema, 29, 217–222. https://doi.org/10.7334/psicothema2016.251.
Barcaccia, B., Milioni, M., Pallini, S., & Vecchio, G. M. (2018a). Resentment or forgivingness? The assessment of forgiveness in Italian adolescents. Child Indicators Research, 11, 1407–1423. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12187-017-9483-6.
Barcaccia, B., Pallini, S., Baiocco, R., Salvati, M., Saliani, A. M., & Schneider, B. H. (2018b). Forgiveness and friendship protect adolescent victims of bullying from emotional maladjustment. Psicothema, 30(4), 427–433. https://doi.org/10.7334/psicothema2018.11.
Barcaccia, B., Pallini, S., Pozza, A., Milioni, M., Baiocco, R., Mancini, F., & Vecchio, G. M. (2019). Forgiving adolescents: Far from depression, close to well-being. Frontiers in Psychology, 10. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01725.
Barcaccia, B., Salvati, M., Pallini, S., Saliani, A, M., Baiocco, R., & Vecchio, G, M. (2020). The bitter taste of revenge: Negative affect, depression and anxiety. Current Psychology, in press. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-020-00643-1.
Barnes, C. D., Brown, R. P., & Osterman, L. L. (2009). Protection, payback, or both? Emotional and motivational mechanisms underlying avoidance by victims of transgressions. Motivation and Emotion, 33, 400–411. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-009-9142-4.
Baskin, T. W., & Enright, R. D. (2004). Intervention studies on forgiveness: A meta-analysis. Journal of Counseling & Development, 82, 79–90. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1556-6678.2004.tb00288.X.
Berry, J. W., Worthington, E. L., Parrott, L., O’Connor, L. E., & Wade, N. G. (2001). Dispositional forgivingness: Development and construct validity of the transgression narrative test of forgivingness (TNTF). Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 27, 1277–1290. https://doi.org/10.1177/01461672012710004.
Berry, J. W., Worthington, E. L., O’Connor, L. E., Parrott, L., & Wade, N. G. (2005). Forgivingness, vengeful rumination, and affective traits. Journal of Personality, 73(1), 183–226. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6494.2004.00308.x.
Bertha, E. A., & Balázs, J. (2013). Subthreshold depression in adolescence: A systematic review. European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 22(10), 589–603. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-013-0411-0.
Bevilacqua, L., Hale, D., Barker, E. D., & Viner, R. (2018). Conduct problems trajectories and psychosocial outcomes: A systematic review and meta-analysis. European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 27(10), 1239–1260. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-017-1053-4.
Brislin, R. W. (1980). Translation and content analysis of oral and written materials. In H. C. Triandis & R. W. Berry (Eds.), Handbook of cross-cultural psychology (pp. 389–444). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Brown, R. P. (2003). Measuring individual differences in the tendency to forgive: Construct validity and links with depression. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 29(6), 775–771. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167203029006008.
Bulhões, C., Ramos, E., Severo, M., Dias, S., & Barros, H. (2020). Trajectories of depressive symptoms through adolescence and young adulthood: Social and health outcomes. European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, (0123456789). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-020-01493-9.
Burnette, J. L., Davis, D. E., Green, J. D., Worthington, E. L., & Bradfield, E. (2009). Insecure attachment and depressive symptoms: The mediating role of rumination, empathy, and forgiveness. Personality and Individual Differences, 46(3), 276–280. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2008.10.016.
Canevello, A., & Crocker, J. (2010). Creating good relationships: Responsiveness, relationship quality, and interpersonal goals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 99(1), 78–106. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0018186.
Chester, D. S., & DeWall, C. N. (2018). Personality correlates of revenge-seeking: Multidimensional links to physical aggression, impulsivity, and aggressive pleasure. Aggressive Behavior, 44, 235–245. https://doi.org/10.1002/ab.21746.
Chiaramello, S., Mesnil, M., Muñoz Sastre, M. T., & Mullet, E. (2008). Dispositional forgiveness among adolescents. European Journal of Developmental Psychology, 5, 326–337. https://doi.org/10.1080/17405620600831614.
Chung, M. S. (2016). Relation between lack of forgiveness and depression: The moderating effect of self-compassion. Psychological Reports, 119(3), 573–585. https://doi.org/10.1177/0033294116663520.
Datu, J. A. D. (2014). Forgiveness, gratitude and subjective well-being among Filipino adolescents. International Journal for the Advancement of Counselling, 36(3), 262–273. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10447-013-9205-9.
Dew, R. E., Daniel, S. S., Goldston, D. B., & Koenig, H. G. (2008). Religion, spirituality, and depression in adolescent psychiatric outpatients. Journal of Nervous & Mental Disease, 196, 247–251.
Elshout, M., Nelissen, R. M. A., & van Beest, I. (2015). Vengeance is self-focused: Comparing vengeful to anger-driven responses. Cognition and Emotion, 29, 1239–1255. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2014.976181.
Enders, C. K., & Bandalos, D. L. (2001). The relative performance of full information maximum likelihood estimation for missing data in structural equation models. Structural Equation Modeling, 8(3), 430–457. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15328007SEM0803_5.
Enright, R. D., Freedman, S., & Rique, J. (1998). The psychology of interpersonal forgiveness. In R. D. Enright & N. J. (Eds.), Exploring forgiveness (pp. 46–62). Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press.
Fabrigar, L. R., Wegener, D. T., MacCallum, R. C., & Strahan, E. J. (1999). Evaluating the use of exploratory factor analysis in psychological research. Psychological Methods, 4(3), 272–299. https://doi.org/10.1037/1082-989X.4.3.272.
Fehr, R., Gelfand, M. J., & Nag, M. (2010). The road to forgiveness: A meta-analytic synthesis of its situational and dispositional correlates. Psychological Bulletin, 136(5), 894–914. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0019993.
Fernández-Capo, M., Recoder, S., Gómez-Benito, J., Gámiz, M., Gual, P., Díez, P., & Worthington Jr., E. (2017). Exploring the dimensionality of the TRIM-18 in the Spanish context. Anales de Psicología, 33(3), 548. https://doi.org/10.6018/analesps.33.2.264461.
Field, A. (2013). Discovering statistics using IBM SPSS statistics. Statistics. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications.
Finch, H., French, B. F., & Immekus, J. C. (2016). Applied psychometrics using SPSS and AMOS. Charlotte, NC: IAP.
Flanagan, K. S., Vanden Hoek, K. K., Ranter, J. M., & Reich, H. A. (2012). The potential of forgiveness as a response for coping with negative peer experiences. Journal of Adolescence, 35, 1215–1223. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2012.04.004.
Freedman, S., & Zarifkar, T. (2016). The psychology of interpersonal forgiveness and guidelines for forgiveness therapy: What therapists need to know to help their clients forgive. Spirituality in Clinical Practice, 3(1), 45–58. https://doi.org/10.1037/scp0000087.
Fu, H., Watkins, D., & Hui, E. K. P. (2004). Personality correlates of the disposition towards interpersonal forgiveness: A Chinese perspective. International Journal of Psychology, 39(4), 305–316. https://doi.org/10.1080/00207590344000402.
Gambaro, M. E., Enright, R. D., Baskin, T. W., & Klatt, J. (2008). School-based forgiveness education for the management of trait anger in early adolescence. Journal of Research in Education, 18, 2–13.
Ganotice, F. A., Downing, K., Mak, T., Chan, B., & Yip, L. W. (2015). Translation and validation of the Chinese version of parent–child relationship inventory (PCRI-C) in Hong Kong. Child Indicators Research, 8(3), 657–670. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12187-014-9270-6.
Griffin, B. J., Worthington, E. L., Lavelock, C. R., Wade, N. G., & Hoyt, W. T. (2015). Forgiveness and mental health. In L. Toussaint, E. Worthington, & D. Williams (Eds.), Forgiveness and health. Dordrecht: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9993-5_6.
Guzmán, M., & Tapia, M. J. (2014). Evaluación del perdón en relaciones de pareja: Propiedades psicométricas del Transgression-Related Interpersonal Motivations Inventory (TRIM-18) en un contexto chileno. Psykhe (Santiago), 23(2), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.7764/psykhe.23.2.623.
Hook, J. N., Worthington, E. L., & Utsey, S. O. (2009). Collectivism, forgiveness, and social harmony. The Counseling Psychologist, 37(6), 821–847. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011000008326546.
Hoyle, R. H. (1995). Structural equation modeling: Concepts, issues, and applications. The Statistician. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications., 45, 267. https://doi.org/10.2307/2988418.
Kadiangandu, J. K., Mullet, E., & Vinsonneau, G. (2001). Forgivingness: A Congo-France comparison. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 32(4), 504–511.
Kessler, R. C., Angermeyer, M., Anthony, J. C., De Graaf, R., Demyttenaere, K., Gasque, I., & Unstun, T. B. (2007). Lifetime prevalence and age-of-onset distributions of mental disorders in the World Health Organization’s world mental health survey initiative. World Psychiatry, 6, 168–176.
Kim, J., & Enright, R. (2015). Why reconciliation is not a component of forgiveness: A response to Frise and McMinn (2010). Journal of Psychology and Christianity, 34, 19–25.
Kline, R. B. (2011). Principles and practice of structural equation modeling, 3rd edition. New York, NY: Guilford Press.
Kovacs, M. (1992). Children’s depression inventory CDI manual. North Tonawanda: Multi-Health Systems.
Lin, W. F., Mack, D., Enright, R. D., Krahn, D., & Baskin, T. W. (2004). Effects of forgiveness therapy on anger, mood, and vulnerability to substance use among inpatient substance-dependent clients. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 72, 1114–1121. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-006X.72.6.1114.
Lonigro, A., Schneider, B. H., Laghi, F., Baiocco, R., Pallini, S., & Brunner, T. (2015). Is cyberbullying related to trait or state anger? Child Psychiatry & Human Development, 46(3), 445–454. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-014-0484-0.
McCullough, M. E., & Root, L. M. (2005). Forgiveness as change. In E. L. Worthington (Ed.), Handbook of forgiveness (pp. 91–107). New York: Routledge.
McCullough, M. E., & Witvliet, C. V. O. (2002). The psychology of forgiveness. In C. R. Snyder & S. J. Lopez (Eds.), Handbook of positive psychology (pp. 446–458). New York: Oxford University Press.
McCullough, M. E., & Worthington, E. L. (1999). Religion and the forgiving personality. Journal of Personality, 67(6), 1140–1164. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-6494.00085.
McCullough, M. E., Rachal, K. C., Sandage, S. J., Worthington, E. L., Brown, S. W., & Hight, T. L. (1998). Interpersonal forgiving in close relationships: II. Theoretical elaboration and measurement. Journal of personality and social psychology, 75, 1586–1603. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.75.6.1586.
McCullough, M. E., Root, L. M., & Cohen, A. D. (2006). Writing about the benefits of an interpersonal transgression facilitates forgiveness. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 74(5), 887–897. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-006X.74.5.887.
McCullough, M. E., Kurzban, R., & Tabak, B. A. (2013). Cognitive systems for revenge and forgiveness. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 36, 1–58. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X11002160.
Medvedev, O. N., Krägeloh, C. U., Hill, E. M., Billington, R., Siegert, R. J., Webster, C. S., Booth, R. J., & Henning, M. A. (2019). Rasch analysis of the perceived stress scale: Transformation from an ordinal to a linear measure. Journal of Health Psychology, 24(8), 1070–1081. https://doi.org/10.1177/1359105316689603.
Medvedev, O. N., Pratscher, S. D., & Bettencourt, A. (2020). Psychometric evaluation of the interpersonal mindfulness scale using Rasch analysis. Mindfulness, 11(8), 2007–2015. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-020-01415-5.
Mela, M., Baetz, M., Marcoux, G., Delury, D., Cooper, B., & Sajobi, T. T. (2017). The influence of a learning to forgive programme on negative affect among mentally disordered offenders. Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health, 27(2), 162–175. https://doi.org/10.1002/cbm.1991.
Mullet, E., Barros, J., Veronica Usai, L. F., Neto, F., & Riviere Shafighi, S. (2003). Religious involvement and the forgiving personality. Journal of Personality, 71(1), 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-6494.t01-1-00003.
Nouri, F. L., Lotfali, S., Sahranavard, S., Amiri, F., Fatideh, Z. A., & Fatideh, N. A. (2019). Measuring forgiveness among Iranian adolescents: Evaluation of psychometric properties of Persian version of transgression-related interpersonal motivations inventory. Current Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-019-0135-5.
Paleari, F. G., & Pelucchi, S. (2013). La ricerca psicosociale sul perdono interpersonale tra un passato recente e possibili sviluppi futuri. In B. Barcaccia & F. Mancini (Eds.), Teoria e clinica del perdono (pp. 17–58). Milan: Cortina.
Rajchert, J., & Winiewski, M. (2016). The behavioral approach and inhibition systems’ role in shaping the displaced and direct aggressive reaction to ostracism and rejection. Personality and Individual Differences, 88, 272–279. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2015.09.018.
Recine, A. C., Werner, J. S., & Recine, L. (2009). Health promotion through forgiveness intervention. Journal of Holistic Nursing, 27, 115–123.
Rye, M. S., & Pargament, K. I. (2002). Forgiveness and romantic relationships in college: Can it heal the wounded heart? Journal of Clinical Psychology, 58(4), 419–441. https://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.1153.
Sindermann, C., Luo, R., Zhao, Z., Li, Q., Li, M., Kendrick, K. M., Panksepp, J., & Montag, C. (2018). High ANGER and low agreeableness predict vengefulness in German and Chinese participants. Personality and Individual Differences, 121, 184–192. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2017.09.004.
Spielberger, C. D. (1999). Manual for the state-trait anger expression inventory–2. Odessa: Psychological Assessment Resources.
Taysi, E., & Vural, D. (2016). Forgiveness education for fourth grade students in Turkey. Child Indicators Research, 9(4), 1095–1115. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12187-015-9364-9.
Toussaint, L. L., Williams, D. R., Musick, M. A., & Everson, S. A. (2001). Forgiveness and health: Age differences in a U.S. probability sample. Journal of Adult Development, 8(8), 249–257. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1011394629736.
Toussaint, L. L., Worthington, E. L., & Williams, D. R. (2015). Forgiveness and health: Scientific evidence and theories relating forgiveness to better health. New York: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9993-5.
Toussaint, L., Shields, G. S., Dorn, G., & Slavich, G. M. (2016). Effects of lifetime stress exposure on mental and physical health in young adulthood: How stress degrades and forgiveness protects health. Journal of Health Psychology, 21, 1004–1014. https://doi.org/10.1177/1359105314544132.
Truong, Q. C., Krägeloh, C. U., Siegert, R. J., Landon, J., & Medvedev, O. N. (2020). Applying generalizability theory to differentiate between trait and state in the five facet mindfulness questionnaire (FFMQ). Mindfulness, 11, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-020-01324-7.
Wade, N. G., Hoyt, W. T., Kidwell, J. E. M., & Worthington, E. L. (2014). Efficacy of psychotherapeutic interventions to promote forgiveness: A meta-analysis. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 82(1), 154–170. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0035268.
Watson, D., Clark, L. A., & Tellegen, A. (1988). Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: The PANAS scales. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54(6), 1063–1070. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.54.6.1063.
Watson, H., Rapee, R., & Todorov, N. (2017). Forgiveness reduces anger in a school bullying context. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 32, 1642–1657. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260515589931.
Witvliet, C. V. O., & Luna, L. R. (2018). Forgiveness and Well-Being. In D. Dunn (Ed.), Positive psychology. New York: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315106304-9.
World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki. (2013). JAMA, 310(20), 2191. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2013.281053
Worthington, E. L., & Wade, N. G. (1999). The psychology of unforgiveness and forgiveness and implications for clinical practice. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 18, 385–418. https://doi.org/10.1521/jscp.1999.18.4.385.
Funding
For Salvatore Ioverno, part of the administrative support for this research was provided by.
the Research Foundation – Flanders (Fonds voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek; FWO), [grant.
number 12V8120N].
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Availability of Data and Material
The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
Ethics Approval
The study was approved by the Ethical Committee of Roma Tre University. The study was conducted in compliance with Ethical principles for medical research involving human subjects of Helsinki Declaration.
Consent to Participate
Written informed consent was obtained from parents of underage students, whereas 18-year olds and above signed their own consent forms.
Conflict of Interest
On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Barcaccia, B., Ioverno, S., Salvati, M. et al. Measuring predictors of psychopathology in Italian adolescents: Forgiveness, avoidance and revenge. Curr Psychol 42, 35–49 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-021-01414-2
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-021-01414-2