The Relationship Between Self-forgiveness, Emotion Regulation Strategies And State Anxiety In Middle School Students And Educational Suggestions

In the field of forgiveness research,researchers mostly discuss the impact of forgiving others on individuals from the perspective of the offended,while few literatures explore the mechanism of self-forgiveness from the perspective of the offender.Self-forgiveness has a positive effect on individuals,and research shows that individuals with high levels of self-forgiveness display higher mental health.Adolescents are at an important stage in their lives,and higher levels of self-forgiveness can lead to better levels of mental health.This study revised the Differentiated Process Scale of Self-Forgiveness（DPSSF）compiled by Woodyatt,tested the reliability and validity of the questionnaire,and formed a formal questionnaire.Then,the Differentiated Process Scale of Self-Forgiveness questionnaire,Emotion Regulation questionnaire and State Anxiety questionnaire were used to explore the relationship between the differential process of self-forgiveness and state anxiety in middle school students,and to test the mediating effect of emotion regulation strategies between the two.Study 1: Graduate students majoring in psychology and English translated the Differentiated Process Scale of Self-Forgiveness into Chinese to form a preliminary questionnaire that included three sub-dimensions: pseudo self-forgiveness,self punitive,and genuine self-forgiveness.In the middle school students,the test and revision were carried out,and 333 valid questionnaires were collected for the first test.After item analysis and exploratory factor analysis were performed on the data,5 items were deleted to form the Differentiated Process Scale of Self-Forgiveness（revised version）,with a total of 15 items.A larger sample was tested again,and 704 valid questionnaires were collected,which were mainly used for reliability and validity testing.The results showed that the Cronbach s α was 0.69,χ2/df<5,CFI=0.87,IFI=0.87,RMSEA=0.07.It shows that the model fits well,The Differentiated Process Questionnaire for Self-Forgiveness is an effective tool for measuring self-forgiveness among middle school students.Study 2: Data were collected through the Differentiated Process Scale of Self-Forgiveness questionnaire,Emotion Regulation questionnaire and State Anxiety questionnaire,using SPSS26.0 and PROCESS 3.4 to analyze the differentiated process of self-forgiveness,emotion regulation strategies and state anxiety of middle school students.The results show that there were significant differences in state anxiety among different genders,and significant differences in self-punishment and emotion regulation strategies among different grades.In the correlation of variables,pseudo self-forgiveness and self punitive were significantly correlated with expression inhibition strategies and state anxiety;genuine self-forgiveness was significantly correlated with cognitive reappraisal strategies and state anxiety;emotion regulation strategies were significantly correlated with state anxiety.Emotion regulation strategies play a mediating role between the differentiated process of self-forgiveness and state anxiety,but the differentiated process of self-forgiveness affects students’ state anxiety through different pathways of emotion regulation strategies.Therefore,this study shows that pseudo self-forgiveness,self punitive and state anxiety are positively correlated,genuine self-forgiveness is negatively correlated with state anxiety,and emotion regulation strategies play a mediating role between the differential process of self-forgiveness and state anxiety effect.Individuals can reduce state anxiety levels by increasing their genuine self-forgiveness levels and improving their emotion regulation strategies.