The forgiving child: The impact of forgiveness education on mental health variables for elementary-aged children.

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Research has shown that exposure to negative environmental conditions such as poverty and violence can have adverse influence on young children. Forgiveness education programs are designed to ameliorate this deleterious impact on young children by targeting anger and depression that can arise from deep hurt. Therefore, this study examined the impact of classroom forgiveness education programs for elementary-aged students in an impoverished community in a large, Midwestern city. Forgiveness education is a classroom program based on the Enright Process Model of Forgiveness (Enright, 2001), and targets anger and depression which often affect children in urban, impoverished communities. Participants for this study were seventy nine fifth grade students (Exp = 40, Con = 39) in four charter schools and one parochial school. Analysis of the data revealed a significant decrease in anger for the experimental group compared to the control group. No significant between group differences were detected for forgiveness and depression. Secondary correlational analyses were conducted and indicate key relationships of interest for future research. The design, implementation, significant findings, qualitative components, and implications of the forgiveness education program are discussed.