Forgiveness and its effect on the emotional health of the late adolescent

The psychology of forgiveness is a relatively new field of research that has emerged over the past two decades. From an historical point of view, forgiveness is a concept with deep religious roots being encouraged for thousands of years by world religions. Forgiveness is conceived as a process of responding to interpersonal injury. Forgiveness is defined and its relationship to emotional health is delineated. Forgiveness as a developmental process is reviewed. The role of anger and spiritual climate and their relationship to the late adolescents ability to forgive is explored as evidenced by self report on Wade's Forgiveness Scale, Multidimensional Self Concept Scale, Adolescent Anger Rating Scale, Reynolds Adolescent Adjustment Screening Inventory, Religious Background and Behaviors Questionnaire, and spiritual climate items on a demographic information form. Private high school students (N = 188) ages 16--18 years volunteered to participate. In this study a mediational model is used. It is hypothesized the relationship between forgiveness and emotional health is explained by anger and spiritual climate. The results of the assessments indicated that some statistically significant relationships exist between spiritual climate and emotional health and between anger and emotional health. No statistical relationship between anger and forgiveness was identified. Further research is recommended to explore the relationship between forgiveness, anger, and emotional health of the late adolescent.