Self-Forgiveness Among Incarcerated Individuals in Ghana: Relations With Shame- and Guilt-Proneness

Research on the forgiveness of self has largely focused on less severe, more common types of offenses among samples within developed westernized nations. In this brief report of a study within a developing nation in Africa, applications of self-forgiveness are extended to incarcerated people. The sa...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Worthington, Everett L. 1946- (Author) ; Osei-Tutu, Annabella (Author) ; Cowden, Richard G. (Author) ; Kwakye-Nuako, Charlotte O. (Author) ; Gadze, Jeremiah (Author) ; Oppong, Seth (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Published: 2021
In: International journal of offender therapy and comparative criminology
Year: 2021, Volume: 65, Issue: 5, Pages: 558-570
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
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Keywords:
Africa
Ghana
Prison
Inmate
Offender
guilt-proneness
shame-proneness
Self-forgiveness
Description
Summary:Research on the forgiveness of self has largely focused on less severe, more common types of offenses among samples within developed westernized nations. In this brief report of a study within a developing nation in Africa, applications of self-forgiveness are extended to incarcerated people. The sample comprised N = 310 males (83.87%) and females (16.13%) who were incarcerated in a medium-security Ghanaian prison (Mage = 39.35, SDage = 13.28). Participants completed measures of self-forgiveness, shame-proneness, and guilt-proneness. Prison records were examined for criminal history details. We hypothesized that self-forgiveness would correlate negatively with shame-proneness and positively with guilt-proneness. We tentatively hypothesized that this association would be moderated by offense type. Self-forgiveness correlated with both shame- and guilt-proneness in the hypothesized direction. However, neither association was moderated by type of offense. The findings offer further evidence on the salience of self-conscious emotions in forgiving oneself, particularly among incarcerated offender populations. We discuss the implications of the findings for enhancing offender rehabilitation initiatives.
ISSN:1552-6933
DOI:10.1177/0306624X20914496