Validating enright forgiveness motivation inventory (EFMI)

Forgiveness is a moral virtue practiced in the context of another’s wrongdoing. As a moral virtue, it develops and flows out for the good of the offender. The literature suggests that there are varying motivations that prompt individuals to consider forgiveness. Nevertheless, while there are several measures of forgiveness that target the outcomes of forgiveness, few measures assess the specific motivations for people to offer forgiveness. The purpose of this study was to validate the Enright Forgiveness Motivation Inventory (EFMI) in the context of a specific hurt participants recalled. We developed the EFMI with 10 subscales situated under four types of forgiveness motivations and examined the validity and reliability of their scores. Also, we examined age differences in forgiveness motivations to see if the theorized developmental progression was supported by data. CFA (Confirmatory Factor Analysis) confirmed that EFMI has a good factor structure. EFMI subscales showed good internal consistency reliability and were associated with transgression-specific forgiveness as well as other forgiveness outcome variables. Further, we found a statistically significant difference between age groups regarding the motivation to forgive to be consistent with one’s belief system. Those in late adulthood showed a higher level of motivation in this area compared to others. However, we did not find any clear age progression with other motivations. Additional findings are presented followed by the discussions of the main findings, limitations, future directions, and practical implications.