Forgiveness, Psychological Self-Sufficiency, and Economic Self-Sufficiency

Background:The purpose of this study is to investigate how forgiveness, psychological self-sufficiency (PSS), and economic self-sufficiency (ESS) are associated. ESS is an overarching social policy goal that promotes independence by way of employment. PSS theory suggests that PSS as the process element of self-sufficiency affects ESS outcomes (Hong, Choi, & Key, 2018). Forgiveness has received attention as a crucial factor that affects psychophysiological functioning (Lawler et al., 2003), depression (Hirsch, Webb, & Jeglic, 2011), and psychological response (Park, Enright, Essex, Zahn-Waxler, & Klatt, 2013). However, little is known as to how forgiveness within the context of workforce development for low-income jobseekers affects PSS and ESS (Hong, Polanin, & Pigott, 2012). First, PSS mediates the relationship between forgiveness and ESS. Second, operationalizing PSS as the difference score between positive psychological response (employment hope) and negative factor (perceived employment barrier), forgiveness is hypothesized to positively affect employment hope and have a negative association with perceived employment barrier (PEBS) as employment hope contributes to ESS.

Methods:Data was collected from 183 clients in five social service agencies that provide job training and career pathways programs in Chicago, IL. The self-report survey was conducted between April 2017 and January 2018. The research hypotheses were tested by using the structural equation modeling (SEM) method with Stata 13. Employment Hope Scale (EHS-14) (Hong, Choi, & Polanin, 2014), Perceived Employment Barrier Scale (PEBS) (Hong, Joshua. Key, & Choi, 2014), Economic Self-Sufficiency Scale (Gowdy & Perlmutter, 1993) and Heartland Forgiveness Scale (HFS) (Thompson et al., 2005) were used to measure the variables.

Results:In the first model, we tested the mediation effect of forgiveness between PSS and ESS. For the full mediation to exist, the relationship between forgiveness and ESS controlling for PSS (mediator) will be zero (Crandall, Preacher, Bovaird, Card, & Little, 2012). The result revealed that PSS fully mediates the relationship between forgiveness and ESS. The direct path coefficients from forgiveness to PSS (β =1.351, p=000) and from PSS to ESS (β =.134, p=.004) was statistically significant when we removed the direct path from forgiveness to ESS. The model had an acceptable fit (𝒳2=27.969; df =19, p=.000; RMSEA=.058; CFI=.984; TLI=.976). In the second model,  the SEM results showed that each path from forgiveness to employment hope (β=.205, p=.000) and perceived employment barrier (β =-.326, p=006) and the path from perceived employment barrier to employment hope (β =-.375, p=004) were statistically significant. Lastly, the path coefficient indicated that employment hope was significantly associated with ESS (β =.205, p=013). The model had an acceptable fit (𝒳2=182.419; df =100, p=.000; RMSEA=.077; CFI=.930; TLI=.916).

Implications:This study found a significant interrelationship among the enabling protective factors—namely forgiveness and PSS— as they relate to ESS. These findings could strengthen the PSS theory by adding forgiveness as an intrinsic precursor to achieving ESS. Combining PSS and forgiveness in delivering job readiness programs will be one of the effective strategies to help clients build efficacy and overcome the barriers to achieve economic goals against the odds of structural labor market conditions.