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Forgiveness Reduces Anger in a School Bullying Context
Hayley Watson1, Ron Rapee1, Natasha Todorov1
11 Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia.
Journal of Interpersonal Violence
|June 24, 2015
Summary
Encouraging children to forgive bullies significantly reduced anger compared to avoidance or revenge. While avoidance was more commonly followed, forgiveness offers a potent coping strategy for victimized youth.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Child Development
- Educational Psychology
Background:
- Forgiveness is a known coping mechanism for trauma and abuse.
- Theoretical links exist between forgiveness and positive outcomes for bullying victims.
- Experimental manipulation of forgiveness in school bullying is lacking.
Purpose of the Study:
- To experimentally investigate the effects of forgiveness, avoidance, and revenge advice on children's responses to bullying.
- To assess the impact of different coping strategies on anger and interpretation of bullying incidents.
Main Methods:
- A within-subjects repeated measures design was employed.
- 184 children (aged 11-15) from Sydney private schools participated.
- Participants read bullying scenarios and received advice to forgive, avoid, or seek revenge.
Main Results:
- Advice to forgive led to significantly less anger than avoidance or revenge.
- Avoidance was the most frequently followed advice.
- Avoidance increased empathy for the abuser but also perceived bullying seriousness.
Conclusions:
- Forgiveness is an effective strategy for reducing anger in bullied youth.
- Further research is needed on the interaction between avoidance and forgiveness in coping with bullying.
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