Abstract

This study aimed to develop and validate a reliable Marital Forgiveness Scale (Marital-FS). The scale encompasses both spouse forgiveness and self-forgiveness within marital contexts. To establish the validity and reliability of the Marital-FS, data were collected from 588 married individuals. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses revealed that both the Spouse-Forgiveness Scale (Spouse-FS) and the Self-Forgiveness Scale (Self-FS) comprised 22 items each, with three sub-factors: negative forgiveness, positive forgiveness, and seeking forgiveness. The Spouse-FS and Self-FS demonstrated high reliability through split-half reliability and internal consistency measures. Additionally, the scales exhibited strong convergent, discriminant, concurrent, and incremental validity. The findings, implications, and limitations of the study are discussed. The Marital-FS, which includes both the Spouse-FS and Self-FS, effectively distinguishes marital forgiveness from false forgiveness. In marital counseling, the Marital-FS can be utilized to assess the couple’s wounds, forgiveness levels, and the outcomes of counseling interventions.