Forgiveness as a Mediator Between Emotional Intelligence and Parent-Child Relationships

Mental health issues in children are a major public health concern. Parent-child relationship quality is considered a significant factor in the development of psychopathology. This quantitative study involved use of a mediation model to examine to what extent parents' self-report of forgiveness mediated the relationship between their reported measures of emotional intelligence and parent-child relationship constructs (attachment, relational frustration, communication, and anger responses). Participants included a sample of parents (N=86) with children 6-13 years old. Parents completed four self-report scales to measure the research variables as follows: emotional intelligence was measured using the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test, forgiveness measured with the Heartland Forgiveness Scale, three constructs of parent-child relationships (attachment, communication, and relational frustration), measured utilizing the Parenting Relationship Questionnaire, and the fourth (anger responses) with the Behavior Anger Response Questionnaire. A mediation model was applied to analyze the data using the bootstrapping method with bias-correlated confidence estimates. Results from mediation analysis with bootstrapping at the 95% confidence interval (CI) of the indirect effect confirmed the mediation role of forgiveness in relation to emotional intelligence and parent-child relationship constructs. Forgiveness mediated the relationship between emotional intelligence and all four parent-child outcome variables - (a) attachment, (b) communication, (c) relational frustration, and (d) anger responses. Outcome variables were considered mediated when confidence interval scores for indirect effect of X on Y did not contain zero. All outcome variables were mediated and all four null hypotheses rejected. Results confirmed the mediating role of forgiveness in relationship between emotional intelligence and parent-child attachment (B = .031, CI= .003 to .119), relational frustration (B = .087, CI= .011 to .200), communication (B = .039; CI= .003 to .124), and anger responses (B = .135 to .016). The study indicated parents, who were better emotionally regulated, were more likely to have the tools that enhance child-rearing outcomes. The findings showed added opportunities in parenting assessment, education, and intervention programs, specifically programs to support parents and help them develop better relationships with their children. Further research is needed to explore how other factors that affect the development of parent-child relationships can be assessed and improved.