Showing papers by "Everett L. Worthington published in 2020"
TL;DR: The authors found that the basic presumptions of transgression and the idea of cancelling debt were similar across cultures and that the cognitive dimension of forgiveness (which involves virtues that preserve social relationships) was more frequently observed in Chinese idioms than English idioms.
Abstract: To understand the conceptualizations of forgiveness more comprehensively, both the cognitive and emotional aspects of forgiveness were investigated across different cultures. Two studies examined cultural similarities and differences in the conceptualizations of forgiveness. In Study 1, we compared idioms of the Chinese and English languages. In Study 2, we compared transgression-related writings between Hong Kong Chinese and Americans. In Study 1 (N = 204), we found that the basic presumptions of forgiveness (i.e., the recognition of transgression and the idea of cancelling debt) were similar across cultures. The cognitive dimension of forgiveness (which involves virtues that preserve social relationships) was more frequently observed in Chinese idioms than English idioms. In Study 2 (N = 68), we found that similar emotional responses (e.g., shame and guilt) arose across cultures following one’s own wrongdoing. Chinese writers were more likely to adopt higher cognitive processing in understanding forgiveness than American writers, as was reflected in their writings.
17 citations
TL;DR: It is suggested that forgiveness may be a health asset for promoting population mental health and psychosocial well-being, and moreover may also be understood as a good in itself.
Abstract: Forgiveness is a concept of growing interest within psychology and of potential relevance to public health. While there has been increasing evidence suggesting positive associations between forgiveness of others and a range of psychosocial well-being and mental health outcomes, its associations with health behaviors and physical health are less clear. This study used longitudinal data from the Nurses’ Health Study II (2008 Trauma Exposure and Post-traumatic Stress Supplementary Survey to 2015 questionnaire wave, N = 54,703), to conduct an outcome-wide analysis among a cohort of female nurses in the United States (age range: 43–64 years). The study prospectively examines the association between spiritually motivated forgiveness of others and a number of of subsequent psychosocial well-being, mental health, health behavior, and physical health outcomes in midlife. A set of linear, logistic, and Poisson regression models were used to regress each outcome on forgiveness in separate models. Sociodemographic factors, prior religious service attendance, and prior values of all outcome variables were controlled for wherever data were available. To account for multiple testing, we performed Bonferroni correction. Forgiveness was associated with subsequent improved psychosocial well-being and reduced psychological distress outcomes in a monotonic pattern. For instance, the top versus bottom level of forgiveness was associated with substantially higher levels of subsequent positive affect (β = 0.18, 95% CI: 0.15, 0.21) and social integration (β = 0.15, 95% CI: 0.13, 0.17), and was inversely associated with several indicators of subsequent psychological distress such as depressive symptoms (β = − 0.16, 95% CI: − 0.19, − 0.14). However, in this sample, there was little evidence that forgiveness was associated with health behaviors or physical health outcomes. This study suggests that forgiveness may be a health asset for promoting population mental health and psychosocial well-being, and moreover may also be understood as a good in itself. Further investigation on the dynamics between forgiveness and physical health is warranted to explore the discrepancy between the results here and some past research.
14 citations
TL;DR: This article tested the effects of receiving an apology (absent, present) and restitution in imagery of a one-sided transgression and common property crime, a burglar and a robber.
Abstract: Two experiments (N = 487) tested the effects of receiving an apology (absent, present) and restitution (absent, present) in imagery of a one-sided transgression and common property crime, a burglar...
9 citations
TL;DR: The exploratory mediation analysis showed that daily stressors partially mediated all four pairs of associations between psychosocial resource loss and mental health outcomes, and implications for humanitarian interventions with conflict-affected populations in Africa and beyond.
Abstract: The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to examine conservation of resources (COR) theory in the context of armed conflict in Africa. Specifically, within the setting of ongoing chronic conflict in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), we tested the COR theory prediction that resource loss contributes to various stress outcomes. A randomly selected sample of 312 adults (125 men, 187 women) from villages in North Kivu, DRC completed orally administered measures of resource loss, daily stressors, and four stress outcomes: depression symptoms, anxiety symptoms, posttraumatic distress, and general distress. Consistent with COR theory, resource loss predicted all four stress outcomes above and beyond the contribution of demographics, relocation experiences, and daily stressors; however, this effect was small, ΔR2 = .02-.06. The most consistent and strongest predictors of stress outcomes were daily stressors, βs = .42-.62; number of relocation experiences, βs = .33-.43; and psychosocial resource loss (e.g., loss of hope, meaning or purpose in life, intimacy with friends and family, physical health of family), βs = .17-.26. Additionally, male sex predicted depression, anxiety, and trauma symptoms, and lower educational status predicted anxiety symptoms and general distress. Our exploratory mediation analysis showed that daily stressors partially mediated all four pairs of associations between psychosocial resource loss and mental health outcomes. We discuss the findings with consideration of research on disasters generally and armed conflicts specifically. We also discuss implications for humanitarian interventions with conflict-affected populations in Africa and beyond.
9 citations
TL;DR: The results suggest the importance of efforts addressing motivations and emotion-focused coping strategies in adolescents who have been bullied to prevent and reduce those adolescents’ future stress and aggressive behaviors.
Abstract: Cyberaggression is often triggered by cybervictimization. However, little attention has been given to the underlying mechanisms in this relationship. Specifically, this study examined the mediating roles of stress as well as unforgiveness (i.e., revenge and avoidance motivations) in the cybervictimization-cyberbullying aggression link. The main goal is to investigate the direct and indirect effects of cybervictimization on cyberbullying aggression while modeling a process in which cybervictimization causes stress, which in turn causes unforgiveness motivations concluding with cyberbullying aggression as the consequent. A total of 979 adolescents (Mage = 13.72, SD = 1.31) completed the relevant scales at two time points spaced four months apart. The results confirm that stress and revenge motivation at Time 1 act as serial mediators between cybervictimization at Time 1 and cyberbullying behaviors at Time 2. Additionally, the results reveal that avoidance at Time 1 was not a significant mediator in the links between cybervictimization at Time 1 and cyberbullying aggression at Time 2. Our findings provide support for the stress-and-coping model of forgiveness in adolescence and offer original insight into the developmental process of bully-victims in cyberbullying context. These results suggest the importance of efforts addressing motivations and emotion-focused coping strategies in adolescents who have been bullied to prevent and reduce those adolescents' future stress and aggressive behaviors. The contributions and implications of the results are discussed.
9 citations
8 citations
TL;DR: The evidence-based REACH Forgiveness psychoeducational group intervention was adapted to collectivistic culture, and its efficacy was assessed in a randomised controlled trial, challenging some previous literature.
Abstract: According to some theorising, in collectivistic societies, forgiveness is mainly enacted to maintain relationships, not engender emotional transformation. This present study was designed to explore whether forgiveness affects decisional and emotional forgiveness in Indonesia, a country categorised as collectivistic. The evidence-based REACH Forgiveness psychoeducational group intervention was adapted to collectivistic culture (REACH forgiveness collectivistic; REACH-FC), and its efficacy was assessed in a randomised controlled trial. Undergraduates in Indonesia (N = 97; 24 male; 73 female; ages 16-21) were randomly assigned within a 2 × 3(S) quasi-experimental repeated-measures design comparing immediate treatment (IT) and waiting list (WL) conditions [Condition (IT, WL) × Time ([S] 3 time points). Harmonious value, a personality variable assessing the strength of participants' desire for group harmony, was the covariate. The condition × time (S) interactions for both decisional and emotional forgiveness were significant, challenging some previous literature. Clearly, not all forms of collectivism have similar effects when individuals and communities deal with transgressions.
7 citations
TL;DR: The first randomized, controlled trial comparing REACH Forgiveness and Forgive for Good, two of the most commonly used approaches to promote forgiveness, was presented in this paper. But the authors did not compare the two approaches in the same setting.
Abstract: The present study is the first randomized, controlled trial comparing REACH Forgiveness and Forgive for Good, two of the most commonly used approaches to promote forgiveness. Additionally, the comb...
5 citations
TL;DR: Emotional and stress-related dependent variables including physiological measures are measured to illuminate the links between predictors of forgiveness and health-relevant side effects, pointing to distinctive impacts of apology and restitution as factors that foster forgiveness, along with emotional and embodied changes relevant to health.
Abstract: Apology and restitution each represents wrongdoers' accountable repair responses that have promoted victims' self-reported empathy and forgiveness in crime scenario research. The current study measured emotional and stress-related dependent variables including physiological measures, to illuminate the links between predictors of forgiveness and health-relevant side effects. Specifically, we tested the independent and interactive effects of apology and restitution on forgiveness, emotion self-reports, and facial responses, as well as cardiac measures associated with stress in 32 males and 29 females. Apology and restitution each independently increased empathy, forgiveness, gratitude, and positive emotions, while reducing unforgiveness, negative emotion, and muscle activity above the brow (corrugator supercilii, CS). The presence of a thorough apology-regardless of whether restitution was present-also calmed heart rate, reduced rate pressure products indicative of cardiac stress, and decreased muscle activity under the eye (orbicularis oculi, OO). Interactions pointed to the more potent effects of restitution compared to apology for reducing unforgiveness and anger, while elevating positivity and gratitude. The findings point to distinctive impacts of apology and restitution as factors that foster forgiveness, along with emotional and embodied changes relevant to health.
5 citations
TL;DR: Couple research, and specifically religion and couple research, is commonly conducted in individualistic cultures as discussed by the authors, and the collectivistic milieu of China makes a useful contrast to Western culture.
Abstract: Couple research, and specifically religion and couple research, is commonly conducted in individualistic cultures. The collectivistic milieu of China makes a useful contrast to Western culture. Wit...
4 citations
TL;DR: Perceiving the offender as having a similar spirituality to oneself was related to less growth of unforgiveness and more growth in empathy, positive affect, and emotional forgiveness as a result of the psychoeducational program.
Abstract: The present study investigated the efficacy of the REACH Forgiveness psychoeducation program for the first time in Indian college students and examined theoretically-based predictors of program response based on the model of relational spirituality and forgiveness. This was an intervention experiment that spanned 5 weeks and included three measurement occasions (weeks 1, 3, 5) and two separate deliveries of the forgiveness intervention (weeks 2 and 4). Participants were N = 124 students at Karnatak University in Darwha, India (100 Hindu; 18 Muslim, 5 Christian, and 1 Jain). This was a manualized, secular intervention led by a trained facilitator in a group, psychoeducational format. Measures included forgiveness and unforgiveness as well as assessments of positive and negative affective states and spirituality. Participants who received immediate forgiveness training showed significant and large positive changes in forgiveness and unforgiveness, as well as, more positive affect and increased self-esteem in contrast to wait-list comparisons. Perceiving one's offender as having a similar spirituality to oneself was a consistent predictor of response to the REACH Forgiveness program. Specifically, perceiving the offender as having a similar spirituality was related to less growth of unforgiveness and more growth in empathy, positive affect, and emotional forgiveness as a result of the psychoeducational program. The REACH Forgiveness psychoeducational approach is efficacious in an Indian college student sample, and some relational spirituality variables are important predictors of response to the program. Future studies should consider the role of Indian culture in promoting forgiveness and possibly tailor the intervention to suit the significant proportions of Hindus and Muslims in India.
TL;DR: It is found that, consistent with a mechanism involving scarring by distress, upward deviations in distress predict flare-ups in Neuroticism 12 months later, and slopes of distress correlate with slopes of a number of traits.
Abstract: In a single comprehensive model, using a large nationally representative sample, we investigate longitudinal relationships between mental distress and "Big Six" personality using an analysis approach sensitive to dynamic effects (i.e., to effects of deviations from individual trajectories). We find that, consistent with a mechanism involving scarring by distress, upward deviations (flare-ups) in distress predict flare-ups in Neuroticism 12 months later. Among younger adults (n = 4,775), distress flare-ups predict dips in Conscientiousness. Consistent with a dynamic precursor model, (a) flare-ups in Neuroticism and Extraversion predict subsequent flare-ups in distress among older adults (n = 11,167), and (b) slopes of distress correlate with slopes of a number of traits (e.g., positively for Neuroticism, and, among older adults, negatively for Extraversion). While demonstrating these scarring and dynamic precursor effects, we draw attention to a nuanced direction of dynamic effect for Extraversion, a newly discovered dynamic effect of Conscientiousness, and previously undocumented dynamic effects of traits on each other.
TL;DR: Restorative justice provides an alternative to retributive justice by seeking to restore criminal offenders to be responsible members of the community as discussed by the authors, and often offenders will apologize (A) and offer...
Abstract: Restorative justice provides an alternative to retributive justice by seeking to restore criminal offenders to be responsible members of the community. Often offenders will apologize (A) and offer ...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors used eight years of longitudinal evidence from the US National Institute of Mental Health (NOMA) to show that attending church attendance benefits mental health by buffering against stress.
Abstract: It has been argued that church attendance benefits mental health by buffering against stress. However, underlying mechanisms are debated and longitudinal evidence is scarce. We use eight years of l...
TL;DR: Sutton as discussed by the authors reviewed the book, A house divided: Sexuality, morality, and Christian cultures (Pickwick, 2016), and identified the main premise as helping people understand the variety of...
Abstract: I review the book, Geoffrey W. Sutton, A house divided: Sexuality, morality, and Christian cultures (Pickwick, 2016). After identifying the main premise as helping people understand the variety of ...
TL;DR: This article examined the utility of the Dual-Process Model of Self-Forgiveness for conceptualizing and measuring trait self-forgiveness with South African and American adults in two studies.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors practice a faith-integration process focused on an empirically supported, family-based treatment approach for adolescent depression, Attachment-Based Family-Based Treatment Approach for Adolescent depression.
Abstract: The overarching goal of this article was to practice a faith-integration process focused on an empirically supported, family-based treatment approach for adolescent depression, Attachment-Based Fam...