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Home , Anger, Compassion

Mindfulness (2019) 10:272–278 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-018-0971-7

ORIGINAL PAPER

Roles of and Rumination in the Relationship Between Self- and

Qinglu Wu1 & Peilian Chi2 & Xianglong Zeng3 & Xiuyun Lin4 & Hongfei Du5,6

Published online: 23 June 2018 # Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2018

Abstract Self-compassion can improve and enable individuals to develop aspects of prosocial such as forgiveness. Self-compassion is associated with forgiveness; however, cognitive and emotional mechanisms underlying this association remain underexplored. Based on Worthington’s -and- theory of forgiveness, we examined the roles of rumination and anger—two typical psychological responses to interpersonal transgressions—in the relationship between self-compassion and forgiveness. By analyzing a sample of 358 Chinese college students (132 male students, mean age = 19.18 years), we determined that self-compassion and forgiveness were negatively associated with anger and rumination. Structural equation modeling results revealed that self-compassion was associated with forgiveness directly and indirectly through decreased anger and rumination. Furthermore, rumination was associated with forgiveness indi- rectly through anger. These findings indicate that anger is a proximal predictor of forgiveness. The results of the present study suggest that increasing self-compassion, reducing rumination, and alleviating anger are substantial and interventive processes for cultivating forgiveness.

Keywords Self-compassion . Anger . Rumination . Forgiveness

Introduction the experience, and embracing one’s own mind and without judgment or avoidance (Fresnics and Borders Self-compassion is a construct that has attracted considerable 2017;Neff2003). Self-compassion is associated with a set of from psychologists over the past decade. Self- positive psychological constructs (e.g., self-esteem, self-deter- compassion is defined as a disposition for being with one’s mination, self-, and interpersonal ) and in- own , including being kind toward oneself, accepting versely associated with negative psychological constructs that suffering and negative experiences are a part of life and (e.g., , , and rumination) (Neff 2003; Qiu et al. 2017). Furthermore, self-compassion may be related to individual adaptive responses to life adversities including en- * Peilian Chi vironmental hardships and interpersonal challenges (Neff [email protected] 2003;NeffandPommier2013). Some empirical studies have consistently demonstrated that 1 Department of Social Work and Social Administration, Faculty of self-compassion is significantly associated with the tendency to Social Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, R712, 7/F, The forgive (Neff and Pommier 2013; Zhang and Chen 2016), which Jockey Club Tower, Pok Fu Lam Road, Hong Kong 999077, is a prosocial and adaptive response to environmental and inter- 2 Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of personal transgressions. People with high levels of self- Macau, Macau 999078, China compassion are more likely to exhibit toward them- 3 School of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China selves, understand transgressions as an inevitable aspect of the 4 Institute of , School of Psychology, human experience, and accept suffering caused by transgres- Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China sions. Thus, such people tend to be more forgiving toward others. 5 Department of Psychology, Guangzhou University, However, the underlying cognitive and emotional processes that Guangzhou, China explain how self-compassion is linked to forgiveness remain 6 Social and Health Psychology Research Center, Guangzhou unknown. Stress-and-coping theory of forgiveness has suggested University, Guangzhou, China Mindfulness (2019) 10:272–278 273 reductions in rumination and anger as crucial cognitive and emo- 2013). In mindfulness-based stress reduction and self- tional processes that predict forgiveness (Worthington 2006). compassion intervention studies, self-compassion has been Forgiveness is defined as a motivational transformation of found to be inversely associated with rumination and anger victims toward offenders, including reductions in negative (Robins et al. 2012;Smeetsetal.2014). , thoughts, and behaviors toward offenders and in- Regarding the direction from rumination to anger, various creases in positive emotions, thoughts, and behaviors where perspectives have been offered. Most empirical studies have possible (Enright 1996;McCulloughetal.1998;Ripleyand reported that rumination is indirectly associated with forgive- Worthington 2002). Forgiveness is positively related to mental ness through anger (Bushman 2002; Ray et al. 2008). health (e.g., reductions in depression, anxiety, and ) and However, a few studies have reported contrary findings, dem- wellbeing (Miller and Worthington 2010; Worthington 2006). onstrating that anger enhances an individual’s level of rumi- Individuals with high levels of forgiveness are less likely to feel nation, particularly anger rumination, which is one type of depressed or anxious. Moreover, forgiveness not only benefits rumination that emerges during or after an experience of anger individuals but also helps people to handle conflict and main- (Besharat et al. 2013; Besharat and Pourbohlool 2012). Thus, tain relationships (Kachadourian et al. 2004; Wieselquist 2009). in this study, we (1) examined the cognitive pathway (through People with a high tendency to forgive others in daily life are decreased rumination) and emotional pathway (through de- more likely to empathize with others, express kindness, and creased anger) in the association between self-compassion realize the common imperfections of human beings (for and forgiveness; (2) explored what the proximate factor is review, see Fincham et al. 2006; Paleari et al. 2005). In marital for explaining tendencies for forgiveness through testing com- relationships, forgiveness toward a spouse is positively associ- petitive hypotheses regarding indirect effects, namely self- ated with both the individual and his or her spouse’s level of compassion → rumination → anger → forgiveness and self- marital satisfaction (David and Stafford 2015). compassion → anger → rumination → forgiveness. Self-compassion is generally related to prosocial responses (e.g., empathetic concern, perspective-taking, and ) (Neff and Pommier 2013; Zhang and Chen 2016). It has been Method shown to be associated with both of self-compassion and for- giveness (Neff and Pommier 2013; Zhang and Chen 2016). Participants People with higher levels of self-compassion are more likely to forgive those who have offended them, regardless of wheth- Study data were obtained from a research project investigating er the offender critically or compassionately evaluates him or the influence of childhood maltreatment on adulthood rela- herself after the transgressions (Allen et al. 2015). Self- tionship quality. Students at the University of Macau, all aged compassion is significantly associated with forgiveness to- 18 years or older and able to read Chinese, were potential ward others across populations (Neff and Pommier 2013). participants for this study. Eventually, 413 undergraduate stu- However, the mechanism underlying the relationship be- dents of the university participated by completing an issued tween self-compassion and forgiveness toward others should questionnaire. We excluded participants who were younger be investigated. According to the stress and coping theory of than 18 years; could not understand Chinese; or provided forgiveness, transgressions may be interpersonal stressors that duplicated responses (submissions made using a single partic- force victims to perceive a of injustice that might leave ipant ID twice or more), incomplete responses, or complete them further threatened because of their suffering and responses within 5 min (Antonelli et al. 2014; Zhou et al. loss (Worthington 2006). The feeling of being threatened can 2013). Ultimately, 358 participants were included, comprising lead to rumination and anger. When victims ruminate over 132 male students and 226 female students, all aged 18– hurtful events, they re-experience and immerse themselves 34 years (mean = 19.18; standard deviation = 1.46). in associated negative thoughts and adverse emotions, and this renders them less likely to forgive. In cross-sectional and lon- Procedure gitudinal studies, rumination and anger have been negatively associated with forgiveness (Fatfouta et al. 2015; Lucas et al. An online questionnaire was administered. Before responding 2010; McCullough et al. 2007). to the questionnaire, an embedded informed consent form People with higher levels of self-compassion have been with general information regarding the project was provided observed as less likely to exhibit anger or and less to all participating students. The students were informed of the ruminative in daily life (Fresnics and Borders 2017;Svendsen purpose, procedure, potential risks, confidentiality concerns, et al. 2016). Self-compassion enables people to understand and compensation method of the project, as well as their right their suffering from a broad and transcending perspective; this to withdraw from the project and the researchers’ contact in- enables people to perceive human imperfections and feel em- formation. Only after the participants had clicked the button pathy toward others (Neely et al. 2009; Neff and Pommier reading BI understand the procedures described above and 274 Mindfulness (2019) 10:272–278 agree to participate in this study,^ could they begin answering version of the TAS has been validated and comprises ten items the questionnaire. The instructor of the university’s measured on a 4-point Likert scale of 1 (almost never) to 4 BIntroduction to Psychology^ course invited undergraduate (almost always) (Luo et al. 2011). The Cronbach’s α of the students enrolled in the course to participate in the online scale in this sample is .87. survey. All students interested in the study could register on- line and participants could earn course credits by completing Forgiveness A brief version of the Trait Forgivingness Scale the questionnaire. Participation was voluntary; writing sum- (TFS) was used to measure forgiveness (Berry et al. 2005). A mary papers on literature readings and participating in other Chinese version of the TFS has been validated (Zhang and studies were alternatives for students to obtain credits. This Luo 2011). Examples of items are BPeople close to me prob- study was approved by the research ethics committee in the ably think I hold a grudge too long^ and BEven after I forgive Department of Psychology at the University of Macau. someone, things often come back to me that I resent.^ All ten items were measured on a 5-point Likert scale of 1 (strongly Measures disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). Participants with higher TFS scores were more likely to forgive others in daily life. The TFS Self-Compassion The Chinese version of the Self-Compassion had a Cronbach’s α of .67. Scale (SCS), comprising 26 items measuring three positive responses and three negative responses that participants may Data Analyses experience when encountering stressful events, was used to assess the level of self-compassion of each participant in the SPSS version 21 was used to calculate descriptive statistics current study (Chen et al. 2011;Neff2003). The six scales (i.e., mean, standard deviation, range of score, and Cronbach’s were self-kindness (e.g., BI try to be loving towards myself α) and correlations. Mplus version 7.4 was used to estimate when I am feeling emotional ^), common humanity (e.g., the total, indirect, and direct effects of self-compassion on BWhen things are going badly for me, I see the difficulties as forgiveness. To test the specific effects of self-compassion part of life that everyone goes through^), mindfulness (e.g., on forgiveness and direction between rumination and anger BWhen I am feeling down, I try to approach my feelings with on the path, two models—Model A and Model B—were an- and openness^), self-judgment (e.g., BIcanbeabit alyzed separately. Each model had three indirect paths, two of cold-hearted towards myself when I am experiencing which were simple indirect paths with rumination and anger. suffering^), (e.g., BWhen I fail at something that is The only difference was the direction between rumination and important to me, I tend to feel alone in my failure^), and over- anger in the third indirect path, which in Model A was self- identification (e.g., BWhen I am feeling down, I tend to obsess compassion → rumination → anger → forgiveness and in and fixate on everything that is wrong^). All items were mea- Model B was self-compassion → anger → rumination → sured on a 5-point Likert scale of 1 (almost never) to 5 (almost forgiveness. always). The scores of the three negative response subscales The model with better model fit indices [i.e., root mean (self-judgment, isolation, and over-identification) were re- square error of approximation (RMSEA) and comparative versed before calculating the total self-compassion score. fit index (CFI)] was considered more accurate. If both The Cronbach’s α of SCS is .80. models were not significantly different in terms of model fit, the one with richer findings (e.g., more significant in- Rumination The rumination subscale of the Rumination– direct effects) was deemed more informative. Indirect ef- Reflection Questionnaire (Trapnell and Campbell 1999) fects were estimated using 5000 resampling bias-corrected was applied to test participants’ rumination tendencies in (BC) 95% intervals (CIs), which are a resam- relation to personal performance (e.g., BI spend a great deal pling procedure employed to handle the sampling distribu- of time thinking back over my embarrassing or disappoint- tion of indirect effects. If the CI of indirect effects did not ing moments^ and BOften, I am playing back over in my pass through 0, the indirect effects were considered signif- mind how I acted in a past time^). A Chinese version of icant. Age and gender were controlled in all models. this subscale was validated (Yuan et al. 2010); it consisted of 12 items measured on a 5-point Likert scale of 1 (strong- ly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). The Cronbach’s α of the Results rumination subscale was .82. Bivariate correlations among self-compassion, anger, rumina- Anger The Trait Anger Scale (TAS)—a subscale of the State- tion, and forgiveness, and the basic statistics are listed in Trait Anger Scale, was used to measure anger (e.g., BIhavea Table 1. Self-compassion and forgiveness were positively cor- fiery temper^ and BI feel infuriated when I do a good and related with each other, and both were negatively associated get a poor evaluation^)(Spielbergeretal.1983). A Chinese with anger and rumination. Similar to the relationship between Mindfulness (2019) 10:272–278 275

Table 1 Descriptive statistics and correlations among the variables and rumination in that association. Specifically, we deter- Variables 1 2 3 4 mined that self-compassion was significantly and positive- ly associated with forgiveness through decreased rumina- 1. Self-compassion – tion and anger in undergraduates. 2. Rumination − .38** – The hypothesis of the indirect effect of self-compassion on 3. Anger − .32** .28** – forgiveness through rumination and anger was supported. The 4. Forgiveness .33** − .26** − .41** – first indirect path was self-compassion associated with for- Mean 78.54 41.01 19.85 31.08 giveness through anger reduction; this path was consistent Standard deviation 9.19 6.28 4.74 4.93 with previous findings. People with a tendency to remain an- Range 44–105 21–60 10–40 13–46 gry are less likely to forgive offenders (Fatfouta et al. 2015; McCullough et al. 2007). Because self-compassion contrib- *p <.05,**p <.01 utes to dealing with negative emotions (e.g., anger), it is as- sumed a Buseful emotional regulation strategy^ that acknowl- self-compassion and forgiveness, anger and rumination were edges painful feelings while offering kindness, caring, and positively correlated with each other. understanding (Neff 2003, p. 225). Thus, individuals with For model comparison, Models A and B had the similar higher levels of self-compassion may retain anger with mind- model fit indices. When rounded to three decimal places, the ful awareness rather than being heavily immersed in anger fit indices of Model A and B did not demonstrate any differ- when experiencing pain due to a transgression. Furthermore, ence (chi-square test = 5.698, degree of freedom = 4, p =.223, self-compassion helps individuals to evaluate negative expe- RMSEA = .034, CFI = .991). Both models confirmed that riences from a broader common humanity-based perspective; self-compassion was associated with forgiveness through ru- if people are more likely to see imperfections in and empathize mination and anger. Regarding the competitive hypotheses with other human beings (offenders included), they are more concerning the proximal predictor (anger or rumination) of inclined to let go of anger and practice forgiveness (Day et al. forgiveness, we determined that rumination was associated 2012;NeffandPommier2013). with forgiveness through anger (Model A), but anger was The second indirect path was self-compassion associat- not associated with forgiveness through rumination (Model ed with forgiveness through decreased ruminative think- B). Thus, Model A was selected as the better model to repre- ing, which in turn affected the degree of anger. The direc- sent the data. tion from rumination to anger in this indirect path was Table 2 presents the specific parameter estimates of the consistent with previous findings (Ray et al. 2008; direct, indirect, and total effects of self-compassion on for- Rusting and Nolen-Hoeksema 1998). In the present study, giveness and the related BC 95% CI. The significant paths individuals who exhibited more frequent ruminative think- and related coefficients in Models A and B are presented in ing were more likely to be angry. If individuals are accus- Fig. 1. Self-compassion was significantly and positively asso- tomed to ruminating over negative consequences due to ciated with forgiveness (direct effect: β =.19,p = .004, 95% transgressions (e.g., unhappy memories and suffering due CI [.063, .317]; total effect: β =.333,p < .001, 95% CI [.208, to a transgression), they may feel anger toward offenders .442]). Two indirect effects between self-compassion and for- and be unwilling to forgive. Self-compassion helps indi- giveness were observed; the first was based on anger (self- viduals to embrace common humanity and avoid over- compassion → anger → forgiveness: β = .08, p < .001, 95% identification with uncomfortable thoughts and emotions CI [.046, .126]), and the second identified the relationship and enables individuals to develop preconditions for anger between rumination and anger that connected self- reduction and forgiveness. compassion and forgiveness (self-compassion → rumina- Although rumination is emphasized as an influential factor tion → anger → forgiveness: β = .023, p = .007, 95% CI of forgiveness in the stress-and-coping theory of forgiveness [.010, .044]). An indirect effect comparison revealed that the (Worthington 2006), our findings suggest that anger can be a first path had a stronger effect than the second path (β =.031, proximal predictor of forgiveness and rumination can be as- p = .005, 95% CI [.011, .055]). The indirect effect through sociated with forgiveness through anger. Self-compassion was rumination was nonsignificant (β = .039, p = .105, 95% CI not indirectly associated with forgiveness through rumination. [.007, .089]). It suggests that although a reduction in rumination is helpful for promoting the tendency to forgive others, it may be insuf- ficient in explaining the association between self-compassion Discussion and forgiveness. Compared with cognitive changes (rumination reduction), The present study investigated the association between emotional changes (anger reduction) may be the most essen- self-compassion and forgiveness and the roles of anger tial ingredient for forgiveness. Rumination reduction may 276 Mindfulness (2019) 10:272–278

Table 2 Direct and indirect effects of self-compassion on forgiveness

Model paths Parameter estimate SE Bias-corrected CI (95%)

Lower Upper

Model A Direct effect .19** .065 .063 .317 Indirect effect A: SC → R → F .039 .024 − .007 .089 Indirect effect B: SC → A → F .080*** .020 .046 .126 Indirect effect C: SC → R → A → F .023** .009 .010 .044 Comparison of indirect B and C .031** .011 .011 .055 (indirect B-indirect C) Total effect .333*** .059 .208 .442 Model B Direct effect .19** .065 .063 .317 Indirect effect A: SC → R → F .033 .021 − .004 .079 Indirect effect A: SC → A → F .103*** .023 .063 .155 Indirect effect A: SC → A → R → F .006 .004 0.000 .018 Total effect .333*** .059 .208 .442

A, anger; D, depression; F, forgiveness; R,rumination;SC, self-compassion *p <.05,**p <.01,***p < .001 facilitate the cognitive decision to forgive. Freeing oneself results because social desirability and subjectivity may cause from ruminative thoughts may help an individual to evaluate response biases. the transgression with a broader perspective and thus decide to Despite its limitations, the present study furthered the field forgive as opposed to focusing only on their pain, troubled in the following aspects. Firstly, as a positive self-focused mind, and negative . However, true forgiveness might concern to enable individuals to feel kindness and peaceful rely on the reduction of negative feelings (e.g., anger) toward emotions and exhibit understanding based on the perspective offenders. For instance, emotional forgiveness—which is vital of common humanity, self-compassion was associated with for personal healing and long-term relationship develop- forgiveness—a prosocial motivation that promotes personal ment—is a peaceful state characterized by limited negative healing and the relationship reconciliation. Secondly, the con- emotions (Lichtenfeld et al. 2015). People’s decisions to for- structs of self-compassion and forgiveness and their relation- give may be impeded by stress responses and emotional pain ship in Chinese cultural contexts are similar to their Western (e.g., anger, anxiety, and grudges) (Hook et al. 2009; equivalents (Chen et al. 2011; Qiu et al. 2017; Zhang and Luo Worthington and Scherer 2004). Thus, our findings are highly 2011). Therefore, the findings of this study contribute to the consistent with the robust associations between decreased anger and forgiveness observed by Fincham et al. (2006) and Witvliet et al. (2001).

Limitations

This study has several limitations. First, the cross-sectional design used could not reveal the causal relationship between self-compassion and forgiveness over time. The mediating roles of anger and rumination in the indirect effects of self- compassion on forgiveness should be tested in future studies through a longitudinal design. Second, we focused only on dispositional states of self-compassion, anger, rumination, and forgiveness. Thus, future studies should endeavor to de- termine whether the observed mechanism functions in various hurtful events with different features and levels of severity. Fig. 1 Indirect and direct effects of self-compassion on forgiveness. Third, our self-reported approach limited the validity of the Model A is above and model B is below. *p <.05,*p <.01,***p < .001 Mindfulness (2019) 10:272–278 277 understanding of self-compassion and forgiveness in Western Birnie, K., Speca, M., & Carlson, L. E. (2010). Exploring self- countries. Thirdly, our findings provided evidence and ratio- compassion and in the context of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR). Stress and Health, 26(5), 359–371. nale for the positive roles of self-compassion in facilitating Bluth, K., & Eisenlohr-Moul, T. A. (2017). Response to a mindful self- mental health (e.g., managing rumination), regulation compassion intervention in teens: a within-person association of (e.g., reducing anger suppression and aggressive anger ex- mindfulness, self-compassion, and emotional well-being outcomes. – pression), and prosocial responses (e.g., and perspec- Journal of Adolescence, 57,108 118. Bushman, B. J. (2002). Does venting anger feed or extinguish the flame? tive-taking) observed in previous interventions (Birnie et al. Catharsis, rumination, , anger, and aggressive responding. 2010; Bluth and Eisenlohr-Moul 2017;Mosewichetal.2013; Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 28(6), 724–731. Robins et al. 2012). The effectiveness of self-compassion, Chen, J., Yan, L., & Zhou, L. (2011). Reliability and validity of Chinese rumination reduction, and anger reduction to improving for- version of self-compassion scale. Chinese Journal of Clinical Psychology, 19(6), 734–736. giveness and the found underlying processes among these David, P., & Stafford, L. (2015). A relational approach to and variables could be examined in future intervention studies. in marriage: the role of couples’ religious communica- tion in marital satisfaction. JournalofFamilyIssues,36(2), 232– Author Contributions Qinglu Wu designed and executed this study, an- 249. alyzed the data, and composed the manuscript. PC collaborated with the Day, A., Mohr, P., Howells, K., Gerace, A., & Lim, L. (2012). The role of design, collected the data, and revised the manuscript. Xianglong Zeng empathy in anger in violent offenders and university stu- provided suggestions on the structure of the manuscript and revised the dents. International Journal of Offender Therapy and manuscript. Xiuyun Lin edited the manuscript and provided suggestions Comparative Criminology, 56(4), 599–613. for revisions (especially in the Introduction and Discussion sections). Enright, R. D. (1996). Counseling within the forgiveness triad: on forgiv- Hongfei Du edited the manuscript and provided suggestions for revisions ing, receiving forgiveness, and self-forgiveness. Counseling and (primarily in the Method section). Values, 40(2), 107–126. Fatfouta, R., Gerlach, T. M., Schröder-Abé, M., & Merkl, A. (2015). Narcissism and lack of interpersonal forgiveness: the mediating role Funding The current study was supported by a research grant awarded to of state anger, state rumination, and state empathy. Personality and Dr. Peilian Chi from the Research Council at the University of Macau Individual Differences, 75,36–40. (MYRG2016-00236-FSS). Fincham, F. D., Hall, J., & Beach, S. R. (2006). 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