Osei-Tutu, A.Cowden, R.G.Kwakye-Nuako, C.O.Gadze, J.Oppong, S.Worthington, E.L.J.2020-07-282020-07-282020-04-22Osei-Tutu, A., Cowden, R. G., Kwakye-Nuako, C. O., Gadze, J., Oppong, S., & Worthington, E. L. (2020). Self-Forgiveness Among Incarcerated Individuals in Ghana: Relations With Shame- and Guilt-Proneness. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology. https://doi.org/10.1177/0306624X20914496https://doi.org/10.1177/0306624X20914496http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh/handle/123456789/35711Research ArticleResearch on the forgiveness of self has largely focused on less severe, more common types of offenses among samples within developed westernized nations. In this brief report of a study within a developing nation in Africa, applications of self-forgiveness are extended to incarcerated people. The sample comprised N = 310 males (83.87%) and females (16.13%) who were incarcerated in a medium-security Ghanaian prison (Mage = 39.35, SDage = 13.28). Participants completed measures of self-forgiveness, shame-proneness, and guilt-proneness. Prison records were examined for criminal history details. We hypothesized that self-forgiveness would correlate negatively with shame-proneness and positively with guilt-proneness. We tentatively hypothesized that this association would be moderated by offense type. Self-forgiveness correlated with both shame- and guilt-proneness in the hypothesized direction. However, neither association was moderated by type of offense. The findings offer further evidence on the salience of self-conscious emotions in forgiving oneself, particularly among incarcerated offender populations. We discuss the implications of the findings for enhancing offender rehabilitation initiatives.enself-forgivenessshame-pronenessguilt-pronenessoffenderinmateprisonGhanaAfricaArticle