Meta-Analyses of the Reliabilities of Measures of Forgiveness and Humility

Abstract

Meta-analyses of 264 studies using one of nine measures of forgiveness and 85 studies using one of four measures of humility are reported. Measures of forgiveness have very good internal consistency, with three measures and four. Measures of humility have respectable internal consistency . Measures typically have been developed with early adult, university student samples, but internal consistency estimates are nearly as high with other adult samples. The limited available evidence supports the internal consistencies with adolescent samples. Additional comparisons by country and electronic versus paper-pencil administration are reported.

Notes

1. University students are not a complete representation of early adulthood, differing in socioeconomic status, family backgrounds, work responsibilities, and many other factors that plausibly could relate to the development of forgiveness and humility. However, the current meta-analysis can only synthesize the existing research evidence, and there is not adequate sampling of nonuniversity early adults to compare with the university students often studied. This limitation is further discussed below.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the John Templeton Foundation (IF#47910).