The conceptualisation of forgiveness among Turkish children and adolescents

Abstract

This study examined (a) how Turkish children and adolescents define forgiveness, (b) the association between self-reported forgiveness and the concepts participants hold and (c) the association between self-reported forgiveness and age. Three hundred and sixty-seven Turkish children in primary (N = 220) and secondary schools (N = 147) were involved in the study. Participants were asked to define forgiveness, and the study used the Enright Forgiveness Inventory for Children (EFI-C). Participants' conceptions of forgiveness were categorised into four groups: conditional forgiveness, reconciliation, ignoring the hurtful event and affective reactions. Half of all the participants in the study were found to be in the conditional forgiveness category. Turkish children were found to be mostly in the category of conditional forgiveness, reconciliation and affective reactions compared with adolescents. Adolescents were mainly found to be in the ignoring the hurtful event category. The highest self-reported forgiveness mean was in the affective reactions category. Participants were commonly offended by friends, siblings, teachers and fathers. No correlation was found between self-reported forgiveness and age. The present results expand the literature of forgiveness by presenting evidence that Turkish children's and adolescents' understanding of forgiveness moderately relates to theoretical definitions.

Children’s Conceptualizations of Forgiveness, Reconciliation, and Peacebuilding in the Context of Armed Conflict

“…At the theoretical level, consensus shows that forgiveness does not mean forgetting victimization, nor does it mean reconciliation with the victimizer (Cortés et al, 2015;Rusbult, Hannon, Stocker, & Finkel, 2005;Taysi & Orcan, 2017). However, some participants stated these definitions in response to the questions "How do you understand forgiveness?"…”

“…and "How do you understand reconciliation?" The implications of this confusion are potentially devastating given that children living in conflict might think that they must justify an offense or repair a relationship they actually prefer to give up (Taysi & Orcan, 2017).…”

“…Although some advanced studies have examined conceptualizations of forgiveness among children (Denham et al, 2007;Taysi & Orcan, 2017), none in the recent literature have addressed the issue specifically in the context of armed conflict. Thus, it is necessary to continue advancing this area of research using different methodologies to enable progress toward the implementation of interventions because the adult literature has demonstrated the benefits of forgiveness and reconciliation.…”

“…Here, forgiveness is defined as the process through which the offended person voluntarily overcomes feelings, thoughts, and negative behavior toward the offender by replacing them with those of a positive nature, thereby changing their understanding of the issue, without the need to forget (Denham, Neal, Wilson, Pickerin, & Boyatzis, 2007;Freedman, Enright, & Knutson, 2007;López López, Pineda-Marín, & Mullet, 2014;Murphy, 2007). However, it is important to clarify that the extant literature has different definitions of forgiveness that originate from different theoretical positions (Fehr et al, 2010;Rocha, Amarís, & López López, 2017;Taysi & Orcan, 2017;Worthington, 2006).…”

Exploring and Expanding Supererogatory Acts: Beyond Duty for a Sustainable Future

“…There is a cultural dimension to forgiveness that reflects that of favours (Neto et al, 2007 ; Watkins et al, 2011 ), but it is also determined by other factors such as religiosity and emotional intelligence (Tsarenko & Tojib, 2012 ), empathy (Xu et al, 2012 ), and communication frequency and quality (Cehajic et al, 2008 ). It is even possible to measure degrees of forgiveness (Taysi & Orcan, 2017 ).…”