Investigation of Childhood Traumas and Cognitive Emotion Regulation as the Predictors of Unforgiveness

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the predictive powers of childhood trauma and cognitive emotion regulation onunforgiveness. The participants of the study consisted of 351 students studying at Pamukkale University at seven differentfaculties and colleges during the academic year of 2019-2020. Childhood Trauma Scale Short Version, Transgression-RelatedInterpersonal Motivations Inventory (TRIM-18), Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire and Personal Information Formdeveloped by the researcher were utilized for data collection. For analysis of the data; SPSS 25.0 package program were usedand correlation analysis, t-test analysis and multiple linear regression were used. Results show that, unforgiveness does notdiffer according to gender, perceived trauma experience and source of perceived trauma, childhood traumas and adaptiveemotion regulation strategies differ according to the source of perceived trauma. Positive correlations were found betweenunforgiveness and childhood traumas, maladaptive emotion regulation strategies. Similarly, a positive correlation was foundbetween childhood traumas and maladaptive emotion regulation strategies. Negative correlation was found betweenchildhood traumas and adaptive emotion regulation strategies. There was no significant relationship between unforgivenessand emotion regulation strategies, similarly adaptive emotion regulation strategies and maladaptive emotion regulationstrategies. Sub-dimensions of childhood traumas and maladaptive emotion regulation strategies explained about 13% of thevariance in unforgiveness.