Robert D. Enright

Emerging adulthood is marked by heightened vulnerability to internalizing symptoms. However, whether forgiveness moderates the associations between parenting and internalizing symptoms remains unclear, particularly across parent–child gender dyads and perceived parental maltreatment histories. Data were drawn from a cohort of 834 emerging adults who completed an online survey assessing parenting, forgiveness toward parents, internalizing symptoms, and perceived parental maltreatment history. Participants also described hurtful experiences involving their mothers and fathers in separate open-ended questions. Approximately 70% of participants described at least one hurtful experience involving a parent, while 26.4% self-reported a perceived parental maltreatment history. Among those with perceived parental maltreatment histories, forgiveness moderated associations involving parental warmth in mother–daughter dyads and overparenting in father–son dyads. Among those without perceived parental maltreatment histories, significant moderation effects were found for overparenting in mother–daughter dyads and for both parental warmth and overparenting in father–daughter dyads. These findings highlight the diversity of hurtful experiences involving parents and suggest that the role of forgiveness varies across parent–child gender dyads and perceived parental maltreatment histories.

This study examined the impact of forgiveness therapy on battered women in Pakistan. The aim was to evaluate the effectiveness of a forgiveness‐focused intervention in reducing depression, anxiety and anger while increasing forgiveness and hope among the battered women within shelter homes. Thirty participants, aged 25–40, were randomly assigned to either the experimental or control group. Participants were recruited from various cities across Punjab, including Hafizabad, Lahore, Gujrat, Khushab, Sargodha and Gujranwala. The Enright Forgiveness Inventory short form (to assess individual levels of forgiveness), the Center for Epidemiological Studies–Depression Scale (CES‐D), Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale, Herth Hope Index, and the Clinical Anger Scale were used as instruments to measure the outcomes of the intervention. The Domestic Violence Scale for Intimate Partners was employed for participant screening. The experimental group underwent 15 therapy sessions, while the control group participants were free to approach the experimental group intervener if they needed help. Results indicated that the experimental group experienced significant improvements in depression, anxiety, anger, hope and forgiveness compared to the control group. The study discusses the implications for treatment and acknowledges its limitations as well.

This research examines the subjective experiences of 10–11-year-old students participating in a social-emotional Education Program on Forgiveness and Agape Love (EPFAL) in Israel. The EPFAL is designed to help students acquire a social-emotional tool to help them deal with the wrongs, vulnerabilities, and injustices they will likely experience later in life. The EPFAL took place as part of a larger international research project evaluating the program’s effectiveness in enhancing students’ well-being and improving the class environment in Northern Ireland, Taiwan, and Israel. The present article presents findings from qualitative, semi-structured interviews of forty students and thirteen teachers who participated in the study in Israel and field notes of class observations conducted during data collection for the larger study. A thematic analysis of the findings suggests that students found the EPFAL interesting, enjoyable, and valuable. The participants experienced cognitive, emotional, and behavioral changes, including changes in the perception of forgiveness. They experienced a sense of empowerment and openness, reduced anger and empathy, and learned to talk about their feelings. This study demonstrates how emotional, behavioral, and cognitive transformations promoted by the EPFAL affect children’s relationships with friends and family and improve the classroom atmosphere.

This paper first explores the risk factors associated with adolescents’ suicidal thoughts, attempts, and behaviors within different developmental domains and in the environment, using the developmental systems theory (DST). The most frequently identified risk factor for suicide, psychological pain, is examined in terms of its nature, expression, and possible cause. This paper criticizes the current empirical research of suicidal adolescents’ interventions on two issues: (1) lack of concern for fundamental issues in lifespan development and (2) inadequate treatment of the emotional needs resulting from the psychological pain in adolescents. Finally, this paper proposes forgiveness education intervention as targeting the emotional needs, particularly psychological pain, for suicidal adolescents.