Relations between Parental Acceptance-Rejection and Forgiveness/Vengeance as Mediated by Psychological Adjustment among Egyptian Adults

Abstract

The study investigated relations among parental (maternal and paternal) acceptance-rejection and dispositions toward forgiveness and vengeance, as mediated by psychological (mal)adjustment. Data were collected using convenience sampling from 341 adults (87% females) ranging from 18 years to above 52 years old. Measures used were short forms of the maternal and paternal Adult Parental Acceptance-Rejection Questionnaires (PARQ) to investigate recollections of parental acceptance-rejection, the short form of the Adult Personality Assessment Questionnaire (PAQ) to evaluate which participants were psychologically (mal)adjusted, the Heartland Forgiveness Scale (HFS), the Vengeance Scale (VS-10) to investigate levels of forgiveness and vengeance respectively, and a Personal Information Form (PIF). The results indicated that participants perceived significant signs of paternal rejection and substantial maternal acceptance during childhood. Men and women self-reported fair psychological adjustment. Women reported having no disposition toward vengeance, whereas men slightly leaned toward vengeance. Participants were equally likely to be unforgiving as forgiving. Psychological adjustment mediated the relations between maternal acceptance (but not paternal acceptance) and forgiveness among men and women. Psychological maladjustment mediated the relations between maternal rejection and vengeance among women, but not men. Psychological maladjustment did not mediate relations between paternal rejection and vengeance. Limitations and implications of the findings are discussed.

Keywords:

• Parental acceptance-rejection
• forgiveness
• vengeance
• psychological (mal)adjustment
• IPARTheory

Disclosure statement

The authors report there are no competing interests to declare.

Human welfare statement

The study was approved by Institutional Review Board of the American University in Cairo (Approval # 2022-2023-285).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.

Notes on contributors

Maya A. Shehata

Maya A. Shehata is completing her Bachelor of Arts at the American University in Cairo, majoring in Psychology and minoring in Behavioral Neuroscience. Her research interests include childhood attachment injuries, their socio-emotional consequences in adulthood, and the manifestations of developmental trauma and how it is transmitted across generations.

Nour M. Zaki

Nour M. Zaki is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at the American University in Cairo. Her research primarily focuses on the impact of childhood attachment relationships on later adult development outcomes. Her research also focuses on perinatal psychology as well as the intergenerational transmission of parent-child attachment relationships. Dr. Zaki is a registered facilitator of both the Circle of Security Parenting (COSP) program from Circle of Security International (COSI), and the Bringing Baby Home (BBH) program from the Gottman Institute.