Forgiveness as a Factor of Adjustment in Bereaved Parents

Abstract

The aim of this study was to focus on the relationship of forgiveness toward others, self-forgiveness, and anger toward God after the loss of a child. A sample of 84 grieving parents completed a battery of questionnaires. Self-forgiveness was found to be the strongest predictor of avoiding negative psychological adjustment after the loss (defined by the variables of normative and complicated grief, depression, anxiety, and anger) and the strongest predictor of positive psychological adjustment after the loss (defined by the variables of life meaningfulness, sense-making, benefit finding, and meaning reconstruction).

Keywords:

• Self-forgiveness
• forgiveness
• anger toward God
• bereaved parents
• loss of a child
• meaning

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Lucia Záhorcová

Lucia Záhorcová is a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Psychology, University in Trnava. Her research interests focus on the psychology of forgiveness, grief and bereavement, and positive psychology.

Peter Halama

Peter Halama is a professor in the Department of Psychology, University in Trnava. His research interests include meaning-making, coping, and personality.

Robert D. Enright

Robert D. Enright is a professor in the Department of Educational Psychology, University of Wisconsin–Madison, USA, and a board member of the International Forgiveness Institute, Inc., Madison, Wisconsin, USA. He has pioneered the social scientific study of forgiveness since 1985.