Forgiveness Education for Fourth Grade Students in Turkey

Abstract

Research has indicated that living in an environment involving poverty and violence can have negative effects on young children. Forgiveness may be an important predictor of well-being among these children. Forgiveness education programs aim to heal these by increasing forgiveness, hope, and by being prosocial while decreasing anger and depression, which appear after deep hurt. The main aim of the study was to assess and evaluate the effectiveness of a forgiveness education program in classroom settings with fourth-grade Turkish students living in an impoverished environment. Two studies were conducted to evaluate the forgiveness education program, based on Enright’s process model of forgiveness. In the first study, students from impoverished backgrounds were found to exhibit significantly greater anger and depression than students representing an average socioeconomic status. In the second study, with 122 fourth-grade students (N = 74 experimental, 48 control) in five primary schools, the forgiveness education program was implemented by school teachers with support from psychologists. Analysis reveals a significant increase in forgiveness and hope and a decrease in anger in the first posttest for the experimental group compared with the control group, although follow-up results indicate no significant differences between the two groups. Significant findings and the forgiveness education program are discussed.