Bullying, Anger, Forgiveness and Psychological Well-being in Early Adolescents

Abstract

The present research project aims to assess the association between bullying, anger, forgiveness and psychological well-being of early adolescents. Bullying is a widespread problem among early adolescents and is associated with adverse psychological outcomes, whereas forgiveness has emerged as a potential protective factor that may help adolescents cope with bullying experiences and maintain positive psychological functioning. A quantitative cross-sectional research design was used to collect the data from 400 participants (212 girls and 188 boys) using non-probability purposive sampling strategy. Revised Olweus Bully-victim Questionnaire (OBVQ; Olweus, 2006), Anger Expression Scale for Children (Steele et al., 2009), Enright Forgiveness Inventory for Children (Enright, 1993) and WHO-wellbeing index (World Health Organization, 1998) were administered to collect the responses. The results revealed significant positive relationship between forgiveness and psychological well-being. Anger and bullying were found to be a significant negative relationship with psychological well-being. Results of regression Analysis depicted forgiveness as the positive predictor of psychological well-being whereas anger and bullying as the negative predictor of psychological well-being and explained 8% of variance altogether. Group differences also showed that gender has a significant impact on study variables. School based interventions should incoperate forgivness and social-emotional learning programs to reduce the harmful effects of bullying and promote well-being. Enhancing adolescents’ capacity for forgivness may strengthen resilience and foster healthier peer relationships and psychological adjustment.