Forgiveness as a moderator of the relation between childhood maltreatment and Empathy in girls adolescent

The capacity for empathy, which generally increases with age and is more developed in girls than in boys, has been associated with psychological adjustment in children. ehildhood maltreatment is a well-known risk factor for poor health, and recent research has suggested that the emotion-focused coping process of forgiveness may help mitigate these effects. The purpose of the current study was to explore the moderating effect of Forgiveness on the relationship between childhood maltreatment and empathy in girls adolescent.
This descriptive correlational study was conducted in 2016. In this study, at first we selected 249 students in khoramabad, Iran. Then the students completed Child Abuse Self Report Scale, and Heartland Forgiveness Scale (HFS; Thompson et al., 2005), and Basic Empathy Scale. Data were analyzed using hierarchical linear modeling.
Results reveal that there is a significant relationship childhood maltreatment and empathy (r = -.70, p Thus, this study provides preliminary support for forgiveness as a moderator of the relationship between childhood maltreatment and empathy in girls adolescent.