Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between dispositional forgiveness and school adaptation in junior high school students. The survey was conducted among 313 junior high school students. First, the relationship, social desirability being controlled, among three factors of dispositional forgiveness (forgiveness toward others, negative forgiveness toward oneself, positive forgiveness toward oneself) and school adaptation (enjoyment of attending school, peer relations, teacher relations) was examined. Partial correlation analysis and multiple regression analysis indicated that forgiveness of others and positive forgiveness of self led to promotion of school adaptation. Second, the relationship between students' four types of dispositional forgiveness and school adaptation was examined among 240 junior high school students. MANOVA indicated students in the category of “all-higher type” had a tendency to better adaptation. In contrast, students in the category of “all-lower type” had a tendency toward maladjustment. The results showed that school adaptation depended on the type of students' dispositional forgiveness.
