Citation

Osei-Tutu A, Cowden RG, Kwakye-Nuako CO, Gadze J, Oppong S, Worthington EL. Int. J. Offender Ther. Comp. Criminol. 2020; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Affiliation

Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/0306624X20914496

PMID

32316793

Abstract

Research on the forgiveness of self has largely focused on less severe, more common types of offenses among samples within developed westernized nations. In this brief report of a study within a developing nation in Africa, applications of self-forgiveness are extended to incarcerated people. The sample comprised N = 310 males (83.87%) and females (16.13%) who were incarcerated in a medium-security Ghanaian prison (M_age = 39.35, SD_age = 13.28). Participants completed measures of self-forgiveness, shame-proneness, and guilt-proneness. Prison records were examined for criminal history details. We hypothesized that self-forgiveness would correlate negatively with shame-proneness and positively with guilt-proneness. We tentatively hypothesized that this association would be moderated by offense type. Self-forgiveness correlated with both shame- and guilt-proneness in the hypothesized direction. However, neither association was moderated by type of offense. The findings offer further evidence on the salience of self-conscious emotions in forgiving oneself, particularly among incarcerated offender populations. We discuss the implications of the findings for enhancing offender rehabilitation initiatives.

Language: en

Keywords

Africa; Ghana; guilt-proneness; inmate; offender; prison; self-forgiveness; shame-proneness