Faculty Publications

Forgiveness As An Educational Goal With At-Risk Adolescents

Document Type

Article

Keywords

anger, at-risk adolescents, Forgiveness education, intervention, social-emotional learning

Journal/Book/Conference Title

Journal of Moral Education

Volume

47

Issue

4

First Page

415

Last Page

431

Abstract

An educational intervention using forgiveness as the goal was implemented with 10 at-risk adolescents attending an alternative school in a Midwestern city. The adolescents ranged in age from 15 to 19 years of age. A randomized experimental and active control group pre- and post-test design was used. Twenty-one participants were randomly assigned to either the experimental group (forgiveness education class) or the control group (personal communications class). Classes met daily for 31 sessions for approximately 23 hours of education. Enright’s process model of forgiveness was used as the focus of the intervention. Dependent variables included forgiveness, self-esteem, hope, depression, and state-trait anxiety scales. After the education, the experimental group gained more than the control group in forgiveness and hope, and decreased significantly more than the control group in anxiety and depression. Verbal reports from the experimental participants following the education also illustrate the positive impact forgiveness had on the students.

Department

Department of Educational Psychology, Foundations, and Leadership Studies

Original Publication Date

10-2-2018

DOI of published version

10.1080/03057240.2017.1399869

Repository

UNI ScholarWorks, Rod Library, University of Northern Iowa

Language

en

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