The development of forgiving in children, adolescents, and emerging adults

Although research has demonstrated the importance of forgiveness in the health and relationships among adults, substantially less research has been conducted with child or adolescent samples. However, both the conceptualizations and the use of forgiveness among children, adolescents, and emerging adults may evolve alongside social, emotional, and cognitive developmental processes. Regulating emotions and behaviors, as well as restoring relationships and social interactions, are all crucial processes for healthy development and the ability to use forgiveness as a coping strategy. In this chapter, we first explore three processes crucial to development-self-regulation, coping strategies, and socialization-all of which are necessary for the use of forgiveness among youth. We present findings from studies that have explored how forgiveness is associated with each of these processes. Second, we present research from an area that has received growing attention in recent years: the role of forgiveness within violent peer and romantic relationships. Including this budding area of research, as well as the crucial developmental processes necessary for forgiveness, we propose a developmentally informed conceptual framework for studying forgiveness among youth. We conclude with implications and future research directions examining the development of forgiveness in children, adolescents, and emerging adults.