Forgiveness and Depression among Adolescents

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Kuzubova, Kateryna
Language:English
Published: University of Toledo / OhioLINK 2015
Subjects:
Online Access:http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=toledo1436879848
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spelling ndltd-OhioLink-oai-etd.ohiolink.edu-toledo14368798482021-08-03T06:31:53Z Forgiveness and Depression among Adolescents Kuzubova, Kateryna Counseling Education forgiveness depression adolescents Depression is a leading cause of illness and disability among adolescents worldwide (World Health Organization [WHO], 2014b). Adolescent depression is associated with higher rates of its reoccurrence in adulthood (Gladstone et al., 2011), and represents a significant cost burden on personal and societal scales (Greden, 2001; Tuisku et al., 2014). Researchers have sought to identify positive and negative correlates for the reduction of depressive symptoms among adolescents (Allison et al., 2005; Bilski et al., 2013; Koivumaa-Honkanen et al., 2004; Muris et al., 2001). Religiousness/spirituality has been consistently identified as a negative correlate in adult depression (Bonelli et al., 2012; Koenig et al., 2001) as well as adolescent substance use and other health related problems (Amoateng & Bahr, 1986; Dew et al., 2008; Kent, 1990; Knight et al., 2007; Rew & Wong, 2006; Ritt-Olson et al., 2004). However, the relationship between religiousness/spirituality and adolescent depression remains ambiguous and requires further study (Dew et al., 2008). Recently, the nature of the religiousness/spirituality construct was recognized as multidimensional and inter-related (Fetzer Institute, 2003; Wong et al., 2006). Forgiveness, as one of the dimensions of religiousness/spirituality, has been vigorously researched in adult health-related outcomes (Toussaint et al., 2008), including adult depression (Thompson et al., 2005). However, only a few studies have examined the relationship between forgiveness and depressive symptoms among adolescents (Dew et al., 2008; Dew et al., 2010).The purpose of the study was to examine the relationship between forgiveness and depressive symptoms reported by 12 to 18 year old adolescents who routinely visited three ethnically diverse family medicine clinics in the New England area. The study focused on three dimensions of forgiveness: intrapersonal (forgiving self), interpersonal (forgiving others), and divine (knowing that God forgives). Additionally, other relationships were examined as they related to gender and developmental stages of young, middle, and late adolescence. The study used previously collected data that was used for publication by the Center for Adolescent Substance Abuse Research [CeASAR] (Knight et al., 2007; Harris et al., 2008). Chi square analyses were used to examine whether observed frequencies between each dimension of forgiveness and depression, each dimension of forgiveness and developmental stage, and each dimension of forgiveness and gender would significantly differ from what would be expected by chance.Results of the current study were not found to be statistically significant, which is incongruent with previous studies examining depression and forgiveness among adolescents in psychiatric outpatient (Dew et al., 2008) and inpatient (Dew et al., 2010) settings. The lack of significant findings and inconsistency with previous research might indicate the absence of an association between the three dimensions of forgiveness and depression across gender and developmental stages among healthy adolescents. However, more research needs to be done on this matter, as this the first study to focus on examining these variables among healthy adolescents. 2015 English text University of Toledo / OhioLINK http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=toledo1436879848 http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=toledo1436879848 unrestricted This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws.
collection NDLTD
language English
sources NDLTD
topic Counseling Education
forgiveness
depression
adolescents
spellingShingle Counseling Education
forgiveness
depression
adolescents
Kuzubova, Kateryna
Forgiveness and Depression among Adolescents
author Kuzubova, Kateryna
author_facet Kuzubova, Kateryna
author_sort Kuzubova, Kateryna
title Forgiveness and Depression among Adolescents
title_short Forgiveness and Depression among Adolescents
title_full Forgiveness and Depression among Adolescents
title_fullStr Forgiveness and Depression among Adolescents
title_full_unstemmed Forgiveness and Depression among Adolescents
title_sort forgiveness and depression among adolescents
publisher University of Toledo / OhioLINK
publishDate 2015
url http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=toledo1436879848
work_keys_str_mv AT kuzubovakateryna forgivenessanddepressionamongadolescents
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