The purpose of the study is to examine the effect of university students' self-esteem, level of forgiveness and cognitive emotion regulation strategy on their psychological well-being and the mediating effect of level of forgiveness on the relationshi...
The purpose of the study is to examine the effect of university students' self-esteem, level of forgiveness and cognitive emotion regulation strategy on their psychological well-being and the mediating effect of level of forgiveness on the relationship between self-esteem, cognitive emotion regulation strategy and psychological well-being. The followings are the research questions for this study: First, is there a significant difference in university students' self-esteem, level of forgiveness and cognitive emotion regulation strategy by their demographic characteristics(gender, religion, subject of forgiveness)? Second, what is the relative influence of self-esteem, level of forgiveness and cognitive emotion regulation strategy on psychological well-being? Third, what is the mediating effect of level of forgiveness concerning the influence of university students' self-esteem and cognitive emotion regulation strategy on their psychological well-being?
For this research, a survey on self-esteem, level of forgiveness, cognitive emotion regulation strategy and psychological well-being were administered to 500 university students in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province. From the survey, 253 valid sets of questionnaire were selected and statistically analyzed through frequency analysis, t-test, one-way ANOVA, Pearson's correlation analysis, multiple regression analysis, and stepwise multiple regression analysis using SPSS Program.
The results of the study were as follows: Firstly, gender had a significant influence on university students' self-esteem and psychological well-being, and religion had a significant influence on their self-esteem and positive interpersonal relationship of psychological well-being. Also, students’ level of forgiveness significantly differed depending on the subject of forgiveness. To be more concrete, male students had higher level of self-esteem and psychological well-being than female students did. Compared to non-religious group, students who had religion were found to have higher level of self-esteem and positive interpersonal relationship. Also, higher level of forgiveness was marked by those who had resentment towards family members than those who had resentment towards friends or teachers. Secondly, university students’ self-esteem, level of forgiveness, adaptive strategy, maladaptive strategy were found to have significant influence on their psychological well-being. To be concrete, the influence on psychological well-being were in the order of self-esteem, level of forgiveness, adaptive strategy and maladaptive strategy. Thirdly, level of forgiveness was found to have partial mediating effect concerning the influence of students’ self-esteem on their psychological well-being. Fourthly, level of forgiveness was found to have partial mediating effect concerning the influence of students’ cognitive emotion regulation strategy on their psychological well-being.
By examining the influence of university students' demographic characteristics(gender, religion, subject of forgiveness), self-esteem, level of forgiveness and cognitive emotion regulation strategy on their psychological well-being, along with the mediating effect of level of forgiveness concerning the influence of self-esteem and cognitive emotion regulation strategy on psychological well-being, this study is expected to provide useful information for developing self-esteem and forgiveness enhancement programs to promote university students’ psychological well-being.