DEVELOPMENT OF THE INGRATITUDE SCALE: A VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY STUDY

Abstract

The purpose of the present study is to develop a reliable and valid measurement tool with psychometric characteristics to measure the ingratitude levels of individuals. Adult individuals (102 university students and 473 adults) who were aged 18 and over constituted the study group. As a result of the Exploratory Factor Analysis based on the items in the item pool that was created within the scope of the study, after the exclusion of the items with overlapping and low factor loading values, a 4-dimensional model that consisted of 17 items (i.e., ingratitude towards teachers, ingratitude towards father, ingratitude towards other people who do good, and ingratitude towards Allah). For the validity of the Ingratitude Scale, Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analyses were conducted. For the reliability of the scale, the Cronbach Alpha Coefficient of the overall scale and its sub-dimensions, and the Guttman Split-Half value was calculated. Also, the correlation coefficients between the scale item-total correlations and the subscales were calculated. The Cronbach Alpha Coefficient (first application: .77 and second application: .86) and correlation coefficients were high, and the fit indexes calculated as a result of the Confirmatory Factor Analysis were also acceptable and at an excellent level (X²/df=3.61; RMSEA=.074; NFI=.91; RFI=.90; IFI=.94; TLI; 92; CFI=.94). As a result of the study, it was found that the 4-dimensional Ingratitude Scale that had a 5-point Likert style and that was developed to measure the ingratitude levels of individuals aged 18 and over with high scores indicating high ingratitude, is a valid and reliable measurement tool.