5.____ I want to see him/her hurt and
miserable.
6.____ I’d keep as much distance between us as
possible.
7.____ I’d live as if he/she doesn’t exist, isn’t
around.
8.____ I wouldn’t trust him/her.
9.____ I’d find it difficult to act warmly toward
him/her.
10.____ I’d avoid him/her.
11.____ I’d cut off the relationship with him/her.
12.____ I’d withdraw from him/her.
13.___ Even though his/her actions hurt me, I still
have goodwill for him/her.
14.___ I want us to bury the hatchet and move
forward with our relationship.15.___ Despite what he/she did, I want us to have a
positive relationship again.
16.___ I have given up my hurt and resentment.* 1
17.___ Although he/she hurt me, I put the hurts
aside so we could resume our relationship.
18.___ I forgive him/her for what he/she did to me.*
19.I have released my anger so I could work on
restoring our relationship to health.
Notes :
Items 1 through 5 are Revenge.
Items 6 through 12 are Avoidance.
Items 13 through 19 are Benevolence.
*omitted from 13-19 to make the TRIM-B5.
1omitted to make the TRIM-B6.
Reproduced with permission.
Rye Forgiveness Scale (RFS)
(Rye et al., 2001 ).
Variable
The RFS is a self-report measure of the extent to which one has forgiven an offender.
Description
The original version of the RFS ( Rye, 1998 ), consisted of 16 items designed to measure the extent to which
respondents had forgiven a romantic partner. Items assessed cognitive, emotional, and behavioral responses to a
romantic partner’s wrongful actions. The scale was subsequently revised ( Rye et al., 2001 ) to be applicable to for-
giveness of any offender. Following a principal components analysis (PCA) with Varimax rotation using 328 uni-
versity students, one item was dropped because its loading was less than .40, leaving 15 items in the revised
scale. The PCA revealed two subscales; the Absence of Negative subscale (Forgiveness AN) consists of 10 items
and measures the extent to which one has overcome negative thoughts, feelings, and behaviors toward an
offender (e.g., ‘I have been able to let go of my anger toward the person who wronged me’). The Presence of
Positive subscale (Forgiveness PP) consists of five items and measures positive thoughts, feelings, and behaviors
toward an offender (e.g., ‘I have compassion for the person who wronged me’). Possible responses for items on
each subscale range from 1 ( Strongly Disagree )t o5( Strongly Agree ). Scores can range from 10 to 50 for
Forgiveness (AN), 5 to 25 for Forgiveness (PP), and 15 to 75 for RFS total.
Sample
Rye et al. (2001) examined the psychometric properties of the RFS using 328 students enrolled at a Midwestern
Catholic university. Means and standard deviations were M536.6 ( SD57.8) for Forgiveness AN, M516.7
(SD54.4) for Forgiveness PP.
Reliability
Internal Consistency
Rye et al. (2001) found the Cronbach alpha coefficients for the RFS to be α5.86 (Forgiveness AN), α5.85
(Forgiveness PP), and α5.87 (for RFS total) (cf. Boyle, 1991 ).
Test/C0Retest
Rye et al. (2001) found that the RFS scores over two weeks were correlated r5.76 (Forgiveness AN), r5.76
(Forgiveness PP), r5.80 (RFS total).482 17. MEASURES OF FORGIVENESS
IV. INTERPERSONAL STYLES