Impact of College Students Attachment on Forgiveness: Mediating Effects of Empathy and Fear of Compassion

This study explored the connection between attachment and forgiveness in college students, investigating the mediating roles of empathy and fear of compassion. A questionnaire, including attachment, empathy, fear of compassion, and Korean forgiveness scales, was administered to 493 university students. Correlation analysis and mediation effect analysis were conducted to determine the relationship between each variable, and the results are as follows. First, attachment was positively correlated with empathy and negatively correlated with Fear of compassion. And empathy and forgiveness were negatively correlated with Fear of compassion. Second, Empathy and fear of compassion were found to sequentially mediate the relationship between attachment and forgiveness. Third, the direct effect of attachment on forgiveness was not significant. This suggests that it is effective to provide counseling intervention to increase empathy and lower the level of fear of compassion for college students who have difficulty in practicing forgiveness due to attachment. Finally, the limitations of this study and suggestions for follow-up research were discussed.