Showing papers by "Everett L. Worthington published in 2014"

Efficacy of psychotherapeutic interventions to promote forgiveness: a meta-analysis.

Abstract: OBJECTIVE This meta-analysis addressed the efficacy of psychotherapeutic interventions to help people forgive others and to examine moderators of treatment effects. METHOD Eligible studies reported quantitative data on forgiveness of a specific hurt following treatment by a professional with an intervention designed explicitly to promote forgiveness. Random effects meta-analyses were conducted using k = 53 posttreatment effect sizes (N = 2,323) and k = 41 follow-up effect sizes (N = 1,716) from a total of 54 published and unpublished research reports. RESULTS Participants receiving explicit forgiveness treatments reported significantly greater forgiveness than participants not receiving treatment (Δ+ = 0.56 [0.43, 0.68]) and participants, receiving alternative treatments (Δ+ = 0.45 [0.21, 0.69]). Also, forgiveness treatments resulted in greater changes in depression, anxiety, and hope than no-treatment conditions. Moderators of treatment efficacy included treatment dosage, offense severity, treatment model, and treatment modality. Multimoderator analyses indicated that treatment dosage (i.e., longer interventions) and modality (individual > group) uniquely predicted change in forgiveness compared with no-treatment controls. Compared with alternative treatment conditions, both modality (individual > group) and offense severity were marginally predictive (ps < .10) of treatment effects. CONCLUSIONS It appears that using theoretically grounded forgiveness interventions is a sound choice for helping clients to deal with past offenses and helping them achieve resolution in the form of forgiveness. Differences between treatment approaches disappeared when controlling for other significant moderators; the advantage for individual interventions was most clearly demonstrated for Enright-model interventions, as there have been no studies of individual interventions using the Worthington model.

Intellectual Humility: Scale Development and Theoretical Elaborations in the Context of Religious Leadership

Abstract: This article focused on how perceptions of intellectual humility (IH)—humility regarding one's knowledge or influence over ideas—affect relationships with religious leaders. We developed an informa...

A meta-analysis of intergroup forgiveness

Abstract: In the past decade, interest has flourished in the empirical study of forgiveness in the wake of intergroup conflicts. In the current paper, we sought to empirically integrate the diverse predictors of intergroup forgiveness building on a tripartite model that incorporates affective, cognitive, and constraining features. Using a random effects approach, we meta-analyzed (N = 13,371; k = 43) correlates of intergroup forgiveness across diverse conflicts (e.g. 65% intrastate, 35% interstate) and populations (20 different nationalities; 60% female). We tested the effect of nine distinct predictors and investigated study characteristics as moderators of these effects (i.e. sex of victim and conflict type). Collective guilt [r = 0.49] and trust [r = 0.42] emerged as the strongest facilitators, whereas negative emotions [r = −0.33] and in-group identity [r = −0.32] emerged as the strongest barriers to intergroup forgiveness. We discuss practical applications of these findings.

Behavioral methods of assessing forgiveness

Abstract: One problem in forgiveness research is the reliance on one method (i.e. having people recall an offense and complete self-report measures). Thus, we present two strategies for studying forgiveness-related behavior. First, we adapted the Cyberball paradigm, which is a game of toss where two computer players (ostensibly virtual players) exclude the participant from play. We adapted Cyberball to include a second round that gave participants the opportunity to retaliate or forgive the player who excluded them. Self-reported forgiveness predicted the first toss and total number of tosses to the offender in the subsequent round. Second, we had participants describe an offense (as is typical with the recall method), but then also complete an activity in which they listed as many positive qualities as they could about the offender. Self-reported forgiveness predicted the number of positive qualities listed. We discuss the contribution of these studies to the multimodal study of forgiveness.

Efficacy of a Workbook to Promote Forgiveness: A Randomized Controlled Trial With University Students

Abstract: Objective The present study investigated the efficacy of a 6-hour self-directed workbook adapted from the REACH Forgiveness intervention. Method Undergraduates (N = 41) were randomly assigned to either an immediate treatment or waitlist control condition. Participants were assessed across 3 time periods using a variety of forgiveness outcome measures. Results The 6-hour workbook intervention increased forgiveness, as indicated by positive changes in participants’ forgiveness ratings that differed by condition. In addition, benchmarking analysis showed that the self-directed workbook intervention is at least as efficacious as the delivery of the REACH Forgiveness model via group therapy. Conclusion A self-directed workbook intervention adapted from the REACH Forgiveness intervention provides an adjunct to traditional psychotherapy that could assist the mental health community to manage the burden of unforgiveness among victims of interpersonal harm.

The Quiet Virtue Speaks: An Intervention to Promote Humility

Abstract: Empirical interest in virtues and their benefits has increased in recent years. In the present study, we test the efficacy of a workbook intervention to promote humility. Participants (N = 59) were...

Efficacy of religion-accommodative strategic hope-focused theory applied to couples therapy.

Abstract: Religion-accommodative psychotherapy has developed with trends toward equal or improved outcomes compared with psychotherapy that pays no attention to spirituality or religion (Worthington, Hook, Davis, & McDaniel, 2011b; Worthington, Hook, Davis, Gartner, & Jennings, 2013). Research on religion-accommodative psychotherapy in couples contexts is sparse, with a few studies of enrichment and prevention and only 1 study of couples therapy. The current study used a clinical trial design of 92 community couples seeking counseling to determine whether religion-accommodative hope-focused couples psychotherapy would differ from standard hope-focused couples treatment (Worthington, 2005). Results indicate that the 2 types of treatment demonstrated improvement for couples over time but were not different from each other on most comparisons. Implications for accommodating religion for couples therapy in an ethical and diversity-sensitive way are discussed (Hathaway & Ripley, 2009).

Efficacy of REACH Forgiveness across cultures.

Abstract: Objective This study investigates the efficacy of the 6-hour REACH Forgiveness intervention among culturally diverse undergraduates Method Female undergraduates (N = 102) and foreign extraction (462%) and domestic (438%) students in the United States were randomly assigned to immediate treatment or waitlist conditions Treatment efficacy and the effect of culture on treatment response were assessed using measures of emotional and decisional forgiveness across 3 time periods Results Students in the treatment condition reported greater improvement in emotional forgiveness, but not decisional forgiveness, relative to those in the waitlist condition Gains were maintained at a 1-week follow-up Although culture did not moderate the effect of treatment, a main effect of culture on emotional forgiveness and marginally significant interaction effect of culture on decisional forgiveness were found Conclusion The REACH Forgiveness intervention was efficacious for college students from different cultural backgrounds when conducted in the United States However, some evidence may warrant development of culturally adapted forgiveness interventions

Efficacy of a Self-Directed Forgiveness Workbook for Christian Victims of Within-Congregation Offenders

Abstract: Multiple psychoeducational and psychotherapeutic interventions are available to aid victims of offense in the arduous process of forgiving wrongdoers. These interventions often require that trained professionals deliver the intervention, which is costly. In the present study, a Christian version of Worthington’s REACH Forgiveness intervention was adapted into a nominally 6-hr self-directed workbook for Christians who experienced an offense within their religious community. College students (N 52) completed the workbook within a randomized waiting-list design with 3 assessments. A significant multivariate Condition Time interaction showed that people improved while working on the workbook and maintained gains after completion. The workbooks produced a larger effect size in reducing unforgiveness than benchmarks of previous REACH Forgiveness psychoeducational interventions of comparable duration. Effect size fell within the upper limit of the standard of change. We conclude that workbook treatments may be cost-effective and easily disseminated. Additional workbook intervention studies are warranted.

Forgiveness of In-group Offenders in Christian Congregations

Abstract: Religious communities, as other communities, are ripe for interpersonal offenses. We examined the degree to which group identification predicted forgiveness of an in-group offender. We examined the effects of a victim’s perception of his or her religious group identification as a state-specific personal variable on forgiveness by integrating social identity theory into a model of relational spirituality (Davis, Hook, & Worthington, 2008) to help explain victim’s responses to transgressions within a religious context. Data were collected from members of Christian congregations from the Midwest region of the United States (Study 1, N 63), and college students belonging to Christian congregations (Study 2, N 376). Regression analyses demonstrated that even after statistically controlling for many religious and transgression-related variables, group identification with a congregation still predicted variance in revenge and benevolence toward an in-group offender after a transgression. In addition, mediation analyses suggest group identification as one mechanism through which trait forgivingness relates to forgiveness of specific offenses. We discuss the importance of group identity in forgiving other in-group members in a religious community.

Examining relationship/family planning factors and sexual relationship power among immigrant Latino couples in the United States.

Abstract: The ability to influence partners' actions within an intimate relationship (sexual relationship power [SRP]) is a key concept in achieving optimum family planning (FP) among U.S. Latinos. The purpose of this study was to examine the associations between relationship/FP factors and SRP. The actor-partner interdependence model was used to analyze data for 40 couples. Both men's and women's sexual communications were positively associated with SRP, only women's relationship satisfaction was positively associated with SRP, women's general communication was negatively associated with men's SRP, and men's contraception attitudes were negatively associated with SRP. Couples interventions are needed, which account for SRP and gender differences. These findings provide direction for developing targeted interventions to achieve better FP for Latino couples.

Spirituality, Hope, Compassion, and Forgiveness: Contributions of Pentecostal Spirituality to Godly Love

Abstract: Love of God and one's neighbor is a virtue that is at the center of Christianity (Luke 10:27). Recent theorists have explored the potential link between love of God and benevolence toward people in a model identified as godly love (e.g., Exline, 2012; Poloma, 2012). Using available measures of spirituality and one constructed measure of Pentecostal-Charismatic spirituality, we found support for the godly love model in a Pentecostal sample. Based on the results of hierarchical multiple regression, love of God, viewed as attachment to God, religiosity and hope, significantly explained benevolence, or neighborly love, when operationally defined by measures of compassion and forgiveness. In addition, an index of Pentecostal-Charismatic spirituality significantly contributed to explaining compassionate benevolence beyond that accounted for by other variables.Most of the world's seven billion inhabitants express religious or spiritual beliefs. The vagueness of the religious-spiritual construct has been addressed by many, leading to a vague notion that people speak of the sacred and often engage in worship-like activities or rituals they associate with the sacred. Many people identify with one of the world's large religious groups such as the monotheistic faiths of Judaism, Christianity, or Islam, or those associated with Asia such as Hinduism and Buddhism. There are of course many other organized sets of beliefs and even more subgroups. In this present study, we examine the spirituality of Christians attending an American Midwestern university affiliated with a Pentecostal fellowship.Perhaps more important than concerns about what it means to be religious or spiritual, is an interest in how the faithful express what it means to be deeply spiritual or have a mature spirituality within their faith community (Hood, Hill, & Spilka, 2009). In the current study, we distinguish between religiousness and spirituality in that religiousness is considered to include the beliefs and practices of an organized religion (Hill et al., 2000), and spirituality is considered to be the sense of relationship with the Sacred (Davis, Hook, Van Tongeren, Gartner, & Worthington, 2012; Shultz & Sandage, 2006) or a sense of closeness or connection with something Sacred (Davis et al., 2012; Davis et al., 2010; Hill et al., 2000). When the Sacred is religious, this has been called religious spirituality (Davis et al., 2012). When humanity is considered to be Sacred, it is called humanistic spirituality nature, nature spirituality and something beyond the corporeal, transcendent spirituality (Davis et al., 2012). In the present article, we consider religious spirituality and are particularly concerned with a particular subset of religious spirituality-that which is associated with Pentecostal or Charismatic Christianity, which we call Pentecostal spirituality.Pentecostalism and related Charismatic groups are among the fastest growing Christian groups globally with upwards of half a billion members worldwide (Pew Forum, 2006). Research indicates that religious conversions often result in measurable changes in religious spirituality (e.g., Paloutzian, 2005). Recent theorists have focused on possible links between godly love and benevolence qua love expressed toward others (e.g., Exline, 2012; Poloma, 2012) specifically in Pentecostal samples. In this present study, we view benevolence as an important dimension of spiritual maturity and explore links between godly love and benevolence with a focus on the contributions of Pentecostal-Charismatic spirituality.Pentecostal-Charismatic SpiritualityThe conceptualization and assessment of religion and spirituality have been reformulated many times since the early focus offered by James (1902). In 1999, Mahoney and Graci found that a small sample of experts in religious studies identified charity, compassion, forgiveness, and hope among the concepts associated with spirituality. …

On Earth as it is in Heaven: Healing through Forgiveness:

Abstract: In this article, we hypothesize that health outcomes associated with forgiveness, if it is received from God, others, or oneself or if it is granted to others, foreshadow the eschatological regener

Community Sanctification of Forgiveness

Abstract: Previous research has yielded mixed findings regarding the relationship between religion/spirituality (R/S) and forgiveness. This study examined the degree to which victims view forgiveness as spiritually valuable within their R/S community. We developed the Community Sanctification of Forgiveness (CSF) scale to assess this construct. We divided the sample (N = 307) into two subsamplcs (n = 157; n =150, respectively) in order to conduct exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. We then examined whether CSF was related to forgiveness in the combined sample (N = 307). We found that religious commitment moderated the relationship between CR: and forgiveness, such that greater community expectations for forgiveness were positively related to forgiveness only for individuals high on religious commitment. Implications for R/S, forgiveness, and the measurement of these constructs are discussed. As positive psychology has gained popularity in recent years, the study of virtues such as forgiveness has flourished. Forgiveness is defined as a prosocial change toward a perceived transgressor, and includes the reduction of negative (and in some cases the increase of positive) thoughts, emotions, motivations, and behaviors towards the offender (Worthington, 2005). Forgiveness has been linked with various benefits to physical and mental health, relationships, and spirituality (for a review, see Fehr, Gelfand, & Nag, 2010). Given the aforementioned benefits of forgiveness, it is important to understand ways to foster or facilitate this virtue. Because most world religions promote forgiveness (Rye et al., 2000), it seems likely that religion/ spirituality (R/S) may be associated with an increased propensity to forgive. Empirical research on the relationship between R/S and forgiveness, however, is equivocal and inconsistent. R/S has consistently shown a moderate, positive relationship with trait forgiveness (i.e., one's propensity forgiveness across relationships and situations). Davis, Worthington, Hook, and Hill (2013) reviewed this literature and found a moderate effect size of r = .29 for the relationship between R/S and trait forgiveness. In these studies, trait forgiveness has been measured with self-report items or scenarios that are susceptible to social desirability bias (see Barnes 8c Brown, 2010). Conversely, R/S has been inconsistently related to state forgiveness (i.e., one's current degree of forgiveness towards a specific offense; for reviews, see McCullough 8c Worthington, 1999; Davis, Worthington et al., in press; Fehr et al., 2010). For example, Davis et al. (2013) estimated a small effect size of .15 for state forgiveness. Together, these findings suggest that although R/S individuals often view themselves as relatively more forgiving than less R/S individuals, they may not be much more forgiving in actual practice. Given the inconsistent effect of R/S on forgiveness, Davis, Hook, Van Tongeren, Gartner, and Worthington (2012) elucidated five pathways by which R/S may promote forgiveness under certain conditions. For the purposes of this study, we focus on two pathways, both of which address the possible role of R/S communities in helping individuals forgive. First, R/S may make forgiveness interpersonally efficient. According to Davis, Hook, Van Tongeren, Gartner et al. (2012), one aspect of forgiving well in ongoing relationships is the ability to decrease the likelihood of future transgressions (e.g., McNulty, 2010). Namely, forgiving well requires that victims accompany forgiveness with appropriate boundaries that protect the victim from exploitation in a way that allows the relationship ample opportunity to repair. R/S communities may provide victims and offenders with established norms and rituals concerning forgiveness and repair of trust in relationships. Thus, when offenders fail to conform to such norms (e.g., refusing to apologize as prescribed within the community) this signals to the victim and others in the community that the offender is not contrite. …

The Contributions of Christian Perspectives and Practices to Positive Psychology

Abstract: We summarize contributions of Christianity to positive psychology. There are three initial caveats. First, the diversity of Christian views and practices across cultures and throughout history has not been universally positive. Second, positive sources of well-being specifically due to Christianity are challenging to isolate. Third, culture is difficult to separate from religion. Christianity has made contributions to culture and intellectual thought and to individual and societal operations through virtues. Christianity supplements secular views of virtue by a Christian telos as maintaining a faithful and authentic relationship with God and by not being focused on raising up oneself, but about serving. Christianity promotes virtue by strengthening self-control and self-regulation, clarifying and focusing goals, and promoting other (related) virtues. It emphasizes two cardinal virtues—love and forgiveness. Future research directions depend on testing these suppositions. We must formulating testable hypotheses and organize existing research and accumulate additional research addressing each proposition.