Empirical Support for the Application of the Forgiveness Intervention Model to Postdivorce Coparenting

The Forgiveness Intervention Model (Bonach, 2007 Bonach, K. 2007. Forgiveness Intervention Model: Application to coparenting post-divorce. Journal of Divorce and Remarriage, 48(1/2): 105–123.  Google Scholar]) is tested as a conceptual framework for former partners who are coparenting. Scores of the cognitive, affective, and behavioral dimensions of forgiveness from a sample of 135 separated or divorced parents were analyzed to contribute to the understanding of coparenting quality. Previous literature supported the contribution of certain predictor variables, including blame, offense severity judgments, and control variables including hostile divorce proceedings, satisfaction with child custody financial arrangements, perceived remorsefulness of the former partner, prior conflict, and the mediating role of forgiveness to coparenting quality. In this study separate regression analyses were run for each dimension of forgiveness to determine their role in the relationship between the study variables and coparenting quality. The cognitive dimension more often had the most significant contribution between the variables examined and coparenting quality. Furthermore, higher coparenting quality was significantly correlated with how positively an individual feels (r?=?.49, p?<?.001) and thinks about the former partner (r?=?.50, p?<?.001). The findings affirm the clinical importance of primary cognitive tasks necessary for an individual to move through the stages of forgiveness to “move on” and achieve desirable outcomes such as a quality coparenting relationship with a former partner.