Self-Forgiveness in Older Adulthood

Over the past two decades, research in lifespan developmental psychology has identified normative changes in social and emotional functioning that occur throughout adulthood. With its grounding in the interpersonal realm, and a focus on processes of adaptation and emotional experience, self-forgiveness represents a construct of direct relevance to socio-emotional aging. Despite this, relatively few studies have examined associations of self-forgiveness with age. This chapter provides an overview of the existing empirical literature concerned with aging and self-forgiveness and offers a lifespan perspective by integrating conceptual models of self-forgiveness with lifespan developmental theory and research on motivation, self- and emotion-regulation. The chapter concludes with an outline of how accrued interpersonal experience, shifts in motivation, and changing resource profiles with aging could each impact on the nature of self-forgiveness in later life. Directions for future research and implications for clinical practice are discussed.