Forgiveness of Family Offenses and Psychological Well-Being in Youth and Emerging Adults: A Cross-Sectional Study on the Mediating Role of Desire for Reconciliation

Family offenses constitute relational experiences that can have a profound impact on the psychological well-being of sons and daughters. Although forgiveness has been consistently associated with higher levels of well-being, the relational processes that account for this association remain underexplored, particularly from the perspective of adolescent and emerging adult sons and daughters. The present study used a cross-sectional design to examine whether the desire for reconciliation mediates the relationship between the positive and negative dimensions of forgiveness (affective, behavioral, and cognitive) and psychological well-being following a family offense. A non-probability convenience sample of 419 Spanish young people and emerging adults from the general population, aged between 16 and 25 years (M = 20.54, SD = 2.69), was recruited across Spain through university channels, social media and snowball sampling, and an online survey was completed. Participants completed the Enright Forgiveness Inventory (EFI-30), the Desire for Reconciliation Scale (DRS) and the Psychological Well-Being Scales for Youths–Short Form (PWB-YS-SF). Results indicated a pattern of associations consistent with the desire for reconciliation, mediating the relationship between all forgiveness dimensions and psychological well-being. These associations remained significant after adjusting for sociodemographic and offense-related covariates. However, the distinction between partial and full mediation across dimensions was not robust enough to correct for multiple testing, and when the overlap among the six highly intercorrelated dimensions was controlled, only positive affect and positive cognition retained a unique association with the desire for reconciliation. Overall, the findings suggest that the link between forgiveness and well-being in young people is partly accounted for by the desire to repair the family relationship.