Effects of a forgiveness education intervention with adult children of alcoholics

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of teaching the psychological process of interpersonal forgiveness to adult children of alcoholics.Eleven females and one male (n = 12), who tested lower than average in forgiveness toward a hurtful family of origin member, and higher than average in either anxiety or depression, were randomly assigned to either an experimental treatment group or an alternative treatment group condition. The intervention for the experimental treatment group was based on a manual designed to teach the psychological process of interpersonal forgiveness. The intervention for the alternate treatment control group was based on a manual designed to teach conflict resolution/negotiation skills. Both groups participated separately in weekly 90 minute sessions based on the intervention manual for twelve consecutive weeks.Measures were taken of forgiveness, self-esteem, positive relations with others, depression, anger, and anxiety both before (pretest) and after (posttest) the interventions. Gain scores between the two groups were compared. No significant differences were found.The alternate treatment control group received the experimental treatment condition in a second 12-week intervention (n = 4). A second set of measures was given at the end of this intervention (posttest 2). There were statistically significant changes in the desired direction after participating in the forgiveness program relative to the changes made after participating in the conflict resolution program in the variables of self-esteem, positive relations with others, depression, trait anger, state anxiety, and composite anxiety.The pooled means of both groups showed statistically significant gains in levels of forgiveness, self-esteem, positive relations with others, and statistically significant decreases in levels of depression, anger, and anxiety from pretest to posttest and from pretest to posttest II. Other results are reported and implications for further research and therapy are drawn.