Relational and social-cognitive correlates of early adolescents’ forgiveness of parents

Abstract

This study examined how mother and father–child relationship quality and marital forgiveness were related to early adolescents’ forgiveness of mothers and fathers. Adolescents’ social-cognitive skills (empathy and emotional regulation) and parents’ forgiveness of child were examined as mediators. Mother, father, and child self-reported questionnaires and observational data were taken from Time 1 and Time 3 (two years later) of the Flourishing Families Project, and included 334 two-parent families with an early adolescent ( M age at Time 1 = 11.24; 51% male; 76% Caucasian). Using path analyses via structure equation modeling, mother–child relationship quality and adolescents’ own social-cognitive skills were salient correlates of adolescents’ forgiveness toward parents. The unique contributions of mothers and fathers, differences by reporter, and the importance of studying forgiveness within the parent–child relationship are discussed.