Relations among Memories of Parental Acceptance-Rejection, Psychological (Mal)Adjustment, Forgiveness, and Vengeance among Turkish Adults

Abstract

The study investigated relations among memories of parental (maternal and paternal) acceptance-rejection, forgiveness, and vengeance, as mediated by psychological (mal)adjustment. The sample consists of 323 Turkish adults (50% females; Age range: 18–61 years; Mage = 35.73, SD  = 10.41) from Istanbul, Turkiye. Participants responded to mother and father versions of the adult Parental Acceptance-Rejection Questionnaire (adult PARQ; short form), the adult Personality Assessment Questionnaire (adult PAQ; short form), the Heartland Forgiveness Scale, the Vengeance Scale, and the Personal Information Form. The results showed that both men and women remembered their parents as substantially warm and accepting during childhood and self-reported having fair psychological adjustment. Men and women were found to be equally likely to be forgiving as unforgiving and reported no dispositions toward vengeance. However, men reported higher levels of vengeance as compared to women. Psychological adjustment mediated the relations between parental acceptance and forgiveness, while psychological maladjustment mediated the relations between parental rejection and vengefulness for women and men. Implications of the findings and future research directions are discussed.

Keywords:

• Forgiveness
• vengeance
• parental acceptance-rejection
• psychological (mal)adjustment
• Turkish adults

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

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

Behire Elif Kuyumcu

Behire E. Kuyumcu is an associate professor at the Department of Counseling Psychology, Gazi University, Turkiye. Her research focuses on IPARTheory, stress and coping, and well-being.

Merve Altın

Merve Altın is a school psychologist at Şehit Ömer Takdemir Anatolian Religious High School in Ankara, Turkiye. Her research focuses on investigating psychological effects of divorce on students.