The examination of the mediating role of optimism, self-compassion, altruism and gratitude in the relationship between cognitive distortions and forgiveness: Determining the effectiveness of psychoeducational program developed for forgiveness

The first aim of this study is to determine whether the variables of optimism, self-compassion, altruism and gratitude, which are accepted as the concepts of positive psychology, have a mediating role in the effect of cognitive distortions on emerging adults' forgiveness of themselves, others and situations. The second aim of this study is to examine whether the psychoeducational program for forgiveness, which was prepared on the basis of the variables with proven mediation effect, is effective on the forgiveness of emerging adults. In this direction, the relational survey model was used to determine the relationship between the variables, and the experimental research model was used to test the effect of the psychoeducational program for forgiveness, and triangulation was used in the research method. Two different study groups were used in the research process. The first study group, from which the relational data were obtained, consisted of 488 university students in emerging adulthood. The age range of the first study group varied between 18 and 32, while the average age was 20.32. The second study group, from which the experimental data were obtained, consisted of 28 university students in total, 14 of which were in the experimental group and 14 were in the control group. The mean age of the experimental group was 20.84, and the mean age of the control group was 20.79. The data were collected using a demographic information form and six self-report scales. In the analysis of relational data, in addition to descriptive statistics, Pearson Correlation Coefficient, Mediated Structural Model with Implicit Variables and Bootstrap Analysis were used to determine the relationship between variables. In the analysis of experimental data, non-parametric Mann-Whitney U Test and Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test were used. According to the results of the research, it is seen that the variables of optimism, self-compassion, altruism and gratitude have a partial mediation role between cognitive distortions and forgiveness of self and others, and a full mediator role between cognitive distortions and forgiveness of the situation. Self-compassion in the self-forgiveness model, altruism in the forgiveness of others model, and optimism in the forgiveness of situations model were found to be the mediators with the highest effect. In addition, the scores of forgiveness for themselves, others and situations of the experimental group participating in the psychoeducational program for forgiveness in which the mediator variables were supported showed a positive significant difference compared to the control group. This difference in the forgiveness scores of emerging adults in the experimental group was also maintained in the follow-up measurement. In this context, it can be stated that the psychoeducational program for forgiveness increases the forgiveness levels of emerging adults. As a result, it can be said that the variables of optimism, self-compassion, altruism and gratitude, which are shown as the concepts of positive psychology, can be used to reduce the negative effect of cognitive distortions on the forgiveness of emerging adults and to increase their forgiveness skills.