Interpersonal Forgiveness among Kuwaiti Adolescents and Adults

Abstract

The willingness to forgive was examined in a sample of 517 Kuwaiti citizens, aged 12 to 55 years. Participants were instructed first to read a certain number of stories (in which a harmful act was committed against a child) and then to express their willingness to forgive in each case. The stories included four factors: intent to harm, religious proximity, presence/absence of apologies, and cancellation of consequences. A high level of willingness to forgive was observed among the Kuwaitis studies, irrespective of participants' age and gender. The impact of the religious proximity factor was limited to a very small fraction of the sample.