An Exploratory Study of Forgiveness’ Place into the Interpersonal Conflicts of Pre-teenagers

Abstract

Forgiveness, besides being a controversial issue among researchers in terms of its nature, has not been studied in younger age groups, and neither related to the conflict situations faced by this population. This study aimed to fill this gap, seeking relationships among pre-teens’ strategies to solve conflicts and forgiveness, as well their conceptions about the act and possible relationships with characteristics like religion practice, gender. Therefore, we collected information about pre-teens’ conflict resolution strategies as well religion, the types of situations and persons considered forgivable, and regarding themselves, when and how would they ask for forgiveness. It was found that, although the participants have accurate concepts of forgiveness, the occurrence of such an act in terms of situations and circumstances considered forgivable is not yet related to their conflict resolution strategies. On the other hand, some results related to forgiveness contribute to a better understanding of preteens’ interpersonal conflicts.