Religion and Interpersonal Guilt: How Guilt Affects Youth

Dr. Jeff Rubin, anger and conflict resolution

Charlie Brown desired that he not yell at his baby sister, but he interfered with his desire by yelling at her. He felt guilty about it.

Research Question

Is it true that the more the religion, the more the

guilt? Or do we need that concept of guilt in order to understand grace?

Why guilt?

Guilt: a Christians Prospective

True Guilt, or sin is: Result Breaking Gods law

Feeling arise from:

Conscience Violate Gods law

Outcome:

Failure to measure up

Our expectations, or the worlds

What is Guilt?

uncomfortable emotionwhen a person believes

one has donesomething believed to be wrong (Albertson, OConnor, Berry, pg. 68)
Guilt is an important emotion in human

experienceboth a destructive and unnecessary result of religion (Albertsen, OConnor, Berry, pg. 67)

What is Guilt? (cont.)

Ratanasiripong without personal concept of guilt, there is no need for grace

The Christian religion vs. Buddhism and other

spiritual religions (Albertson, OConnor, Berry, pg. 77)

God doing something for us. Us doing something for the god.

The more the religion, the more the guilt

What is Guilt? (cont.)

Etxebarria, Ortiz, Conejero and Pascual

6 situations, by action or omission, main character

harms another person

Scale of 1-7 how guilty one would feel. Results: habitual guilt more intense in women than men, not only in adolescence, but in adulthood also (pg. 549)

Method

Interviews 4 girls (ages 13-17) 4 boys (ages 16-18) Pennsylvania, South Carolina

Questions
1. Describe your religion/spirituality and what it means to you. 2. How would you define guilt? 3. When was the last time you felt guilty? Explain. 4. Do you to talk to someone or internalize the guilt? 5. What do you do to get rid of your guilt?

Answers
Guilt is (doing something wrong, or bad), (feeling

bad/sorry for something you did). (Every day I feel guilty about my past), (cant forgive myself), (I was just doing me, but I made myself believe it) (I internalize it), (hold everything in), (keep it all inside me), (tend to bottle it up).

Direct correlations between number 1 and number 5

 Trends Dealing with guilt Defining guilt How they get rid of it

 Girl 1 I know that I am automatically forgiven, and as soon as I realize that, I smile because I serve the God that is able to do such things without second thought. Boy 1 I make myself believe that what I did is just or that I dont care about, I dont care who it happen to, or care about what my decision caused.

 Input Feedback

Questions?

Works Cited
Albertsen, Elizabeth J., Lynn E. O'Connor, and Jack W. Berry. "Religion

and Interpersonal Guilt: Variations Across Ethnicity and Spirituality." Mental Health, Religion and Culture (2006): 67-84. Web. 20 Oct. 2013. The Art of the Guilt Trip. Vline, 16 Oct. 2012. Web.

Ratanasiripong, P.P. (1996). Effects of Culture and Religious Belief on Self-

Conscious Emotions and Depression:Acculturation, self-construal, belief in grace, shame, guilt, and depression among Asian American and European American Protestants (Doctoral dissertation, The Wright Institute, Berkeley, CA). Dissertation Abstracts International, 57, 7235. "Intensity of Habitual Guilt in Men and Women: Differences in Interpersonal Sensitivity and the Tendency towards Anxious-Aggressive Guilt." The Spanish Journal of Psyhcology 12 (2009): 540-54. Web. 24 Oct. 2013.

Etxebarria, Itziar, M. Jose Ortiz, Susana Conejero, and Aitziber Pascual.