Parental Divorce and Negative Well-Being Outcomes: The Mediating Role of Forgiveness Parental Divorce and Negative Well-Being Outcomes: The Mediating Role of Forgiveness Kimberly M. Jorgensen, B.A., Loren L. Toussaint 1, Ph.D., University of Northern Iowa, Luther College 1 or Purpose The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of parental divorce on the well-being of college students. Of particular interest was the potential role of forgiveness in mediating these associations. Children with divorced parents may be susceptible to problems in adjustment especially when conflict exists (Simons, Whitbeck, Beaman, & Conger, 1994; El-Sheikh & Elmore-Stanton, 2004). Both trait and state forgiveness have been cited as either directly or indirectly relating to variables such as divorce, parent-child relationships, conflict, and mental health (e.g., Bonach & Sales, 2002; Maltby, Macaskill, & Day, 2001; Paleari, Regalia, & Fincham, 2003). As such, we expected to confirm previous studies showing poorer outcomes for adolescent children of divorced parents and also demonstrate that forgiveness mediates this association.Hypotheses We assessed state and trait forgiveness in addition to multiple indices of health and well-being (e.g., life satisfaction, somatization, depression, anxiety). We expected that children with divorced or separated parents would exhibit lower quality mental health and life satisfaction. We further expected that forgiveness would mediate the association between parental divorce status and outcomes of health and well-being.Method   Participants   298 undergraduate students recruited from general psychology (73.5% women, 26.5% men )   198 (66.4%) came from any non-divorce families   100 (33.6%) had divorced or separated biological parents   Mean age = years (SD =.97, range = )   Measures   Forgiveness   Trait Forgivingness Scale ) (TFS; Berry, Worthington, O’Connor, Parrott, & Wade, 2005 )   Enright Forgiveness Inventory ) (EFI; Subkoviak, Enright, Wu, Gassin, Freedman, Olson, & Sarinopoulos, 1995)   Well-Being   Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS; Diener, Emmons, Larsen & Griffin, 1985)   Hopkins Symptom Checklist (HSCL; Derogatis, Lipman, Rickels, Uhlenhuth, & Covi, 1974) Results Our analyses utilized Baron and Kenny’s (1986) guidelines for establishing statistical mediation (see Figure 1). First, we established that parent separation/divorce was associated with our mental health outcomes (see Table 1). College-aged children of separated/divorced parents showed lower overall satisfaction with life and greater problems with interpersonal sensitivity (|rs| = ). Second, via Pearson correlation, we established that parent separation/divorce was associated with state forgiveness (r = -.38) and trait forgiveness (r = -.26). Third, we established that forgiveness predicted unique variance and accounted for the association between parent separation/divorce status and the outcomes. This pattern of associations proved true for conflict, quality of relationship with father, satisfaction with life, and interpersonal sensitivity (|  s| = ). Finally, it was possible to determine that life satisfaction was partially mediated and interpersonal sensitivity was fully mediated by both state and trait forgiveness (see Table 2). Association for Psychological Science 19 th Annual Convention May 26, 2007 Table 1 Fathers forgiven by their children enjoy better relationship quality. However, forgiveness was not found to be connected to relationship quality with mothers. Table 2 Figure 2 References Amato, P.R. & Keith, B. (1991). Parental divorce and the well-being of children: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 110, Baron, R. M., & Kenny, D. A. (1986). The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, Bonach, K., & Sales, E. (2002). Forgiveness as a mediator between post divorce cognitive processes and coparenting quality. Journal of Divorce and Remarriage, 38, El-Sheikh, M. & Elmore-Staton, L. (2004). The link between marital conflict and child adjustment: Parent-child conflict and perceived attachments as mediators, potentiators, and mitigators of risk. Development & Psychopathology, 16, Maltby, J., Macaskill, A., & Day, L. (2001). Failure to forgive self and others: A replication and extension of the relationship between forgiveness, personality, social desirability and general health. Personality and Individual Differences, 30, Paleari, F.G., Regalia, C., & Fincham, F.D. (2003). Adolescents’ willingness to forgive their parents: An empirical model. Parenting: Science and Practice, 3, Simons, R.L., Whitbeck, L.B., Beaman, J., & Conger, R.D. (1994). The impact of mothers’ parenting, involvement by nonresidential fathers, and parental conflict on the adjustment of adolescent children. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 56, Step 1: Establish association between variable of interest and outcome. Divorce  Well-Being Step 2: Establish association between this initial variable and mediator. Divorce  Forgiveness Step 3: Establish association between mediator and outcome. Forgiveness  Well-Being Step 4: Determine full or partial mediation. (Full mediation when the no relationship exists until the presence of the mediator.) Figure 1 Conclusions The findings of the present study confirm previous work (Amato & Keith, 1991) showing that parent separation/divorce can have a significant association with detrimental social and health and well-being outcomes. There is justification for optimism in that, children who have higher levels of forgiveness may not be as negatively affected. Children with higher trait forgiveness and/or a higher likelihood of state forgiveness are shown here to be less affected by divorce with respect to their self-ratings of life satisfaction and interpersonal sensitivity. If potent interventions could be designed to facilitate higher levels of forgiveness in children and adolescents with separated or divorced parents the negative consequences might be mitigated. Clinicians and other interventionists might give consideration to using forgiveness as an additional intervention strategy. Divorce Forgiveness Well-Being Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Forgiveness as hypothesized to mediate the relationship between parental divorce or separation and children’s subjective well-being.