Interpersonal Forgiveness and Adolescent Depression. The Mediational Role of Self-reassurance and Self-criticism

Objectives Literature indicates that positive feelings towards oneself and others are important assets for well-being. In thisstudy we intended to test the mediational role of self-reassurance, self-hate and self-inadequateness on the relationshipsbetween depression and interpers onal forgiveness, avoidance and revenge, respectively.Methods Participants were 2105 adolescents (N = 979 boys; 1126 girls) ranging from 13 to 20 years. Participants completedself-repor t questionnaires measuring their perceived depressive symptoms (Children’s Depression Inventory), perceivedstate forgivene ss (Transgression-Related Interpersonal Motivations Inventory-18) and perceived Self-Criticism and Self-Reassurance.Results The results showed that the feelings towards oneself mediated the associations of feelings and motivations towardsothers with depression. Specifically, the more participants were benevo lent and forgiving, the more they were self-reassuredand, as a consequence, the less they reported depressive symptomatology. On the contrary, the more they were avoidant orvengeful, the more they criticised and attacked themselves, and, as a consequence, the more they reported depressivesymptomatology.Conclusions Overall, our findings highlight the importance of promoting a self-reassuring attitude towards oneself, both toreduce the negative effects of avoidance and revenge on depression, and to increase the beneficial effects of interpersonalforgiveness. Self-criticism only exacerbates the suffering, whereas a warm and reassuring attitude both towards others andoneself reduces depressive symptomatology.