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. 2022 Oct;32(5):337-349.
doi: 10.1002/cbm.2260. Epub 2022 Sep 2.

The relationship between self-forgiveness and psychological wellbeing in prison inmates: The mediating role of mindfulness

Giorgia F Paleari  1 , Francesca Danioni  2 , Sara Pelucchi  2   3 , Maria Rita Lombrano  4 , Daniel Lumera  4 , Camillo Regalia  2   3
Affiliations

The relationship between self-forgiveness and psychological wellbeing in prison inmates: The mediating role of mindfulness

Giorgia F Paleari et al. Crim Behav Ment Health. 2022 Oct.

Abstract

Background: Previous research with general population samples has consistently shown that forgiveness and mindfulness facilitate coping with distressing experiences and significantly promote mental health. No study, however, has examined their unique contribution to prisoners' psychological wellbeing nor has considered the different forms of self-forgiveness among prisoners.

Aims: Our aim was to investigate the role of mindfulness in mediating any association between prisoners' self-forgiveness and psychological wellbeing and to test whether any such links are moderated by years spent in prison. In this study self-forgiveness was conceptualised as a multidimensional construct, including presence of genuine self-forgiveness, absence of pseudo self-forgiveness and/or absence of self-punitiveness.

Methods: Participants were recruited from a prison in Northern Italy. Consenting men were asked to complete an anonymous self-report questionnaire with only a researcher present.

Results: 104 male prisoners (mean age 46.63 years, SD 11.38) took part. Findings were that self-punitiveness was inversely related to well-being, with mindfulness mediating this relationship, this while controlling for the other dimensions of self-forgiveness and the perceived severity of the crime committed. Contrary to expectation, we found no direct relationship between genuine self-forgiveness and well-being, but the moderated mediation models showed that genuine self-forgiveness was positively associated with mindfulness and, through this, had an indirect association with wellbeing, significant only for prisoners who had already spent several years in prison.

Conclusions: Our findings confirm that self-forgiveness is a complex construct, worthy of further investigation among offenders. They suggest that forgiveness interventions for prisoners should include modules aimed at primarily reducing self-punitive attitudes. Promotion of genuine self-forgiveness should be tried only with awareness that this is likely to take a very long time. In such circumstances, interventions may promote energy to be invested in mindful processes with a consequent improvement in psychological wellbeing.

Keywords: mediation; mindfulness; prison inmates; psychological wellbeing; self-forgiveness.

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Conflict of interest statement

The author(s) declared the following potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This research was made possible thanks to the financial support of My Life Design Ente del Terzo Settore–O.D.V. which is the affiliation of two of the co‐authors.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
B coefficients for all simple mediation models tested. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001. CI, confidence intervals
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
B coefficients for moderated mediation model in which years spent in prison moderated to the links of genuine self‐forgiveness with mindfulness and wellbeing. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01. CI, confidence intervals
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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