| This study focused on whether the college students with insecure attachment, who learned forgiveness, would experience greater gains on psychological measures than students who had not. Thirty female college students who identified themselves as insecurely attached daughters were randomly assigned to one of three groups: (a) an experimental group that learned forgiveness for eight weeks, (b) an active control group using an alternative healing-relationship program of the same duration, and (c) a no-contact control group that did not receive any treatment. During the eight week period the experimental group read Forgiveness Is a Choice. They also wrote journals and were checked through a weekly email. The same process was performed in the active control group with different reading material and assignments that were not related to forgiveness.After the program ended, the participants completed questionnaires related to attachment, forgiveness, self-esteem, anxiety, anger, depression, and interpersonal competence. Two months later there was a follow-up test. The general hypothesis was as follows: in comparing the gains from pretest to posttest and from pretest to follow-up test, the participants who received forgiveness education would show statistically greater improvement in secure attachment, forgiveness, and psychological functioning than those in the control groups.According to the results, the hypothesis was partially supported. In gains from pretest to posttest, the participants in the forgiveness program showed significantly greater improvement in all of the dependent variables except state anxiety, state anger, and composite anger, when compared to those in the no-contact control group. They also exhibited greater increase in secure attachment, forgiveness, self-esteem, composite anxiety, trait anxiety, and depression, than those in the active control group. In addition, from pretest to follow-up, the participants in the forgiveness program showed significantly greater improvement in secure attachment, forgiveness, self-esteem, and composite anxiety, than those in either control groups. Trait anger showed better improvement in both the forgiveness group and the active control group than in the no-contact control group. The results imply that the self-administered forgiveness education works effectively for female college students with insecure attachment to their mothers in improving their levels of secure attachment and psychological well-being. |
