Parents’ Proclivity to Apologize to Their Romantic Partner is Associated with Positive Parental Attitudes on Apologies and Parental Apology Prompting

The willingness to apologize and forgive is robustly associated with relational and personal wellbeing, and thus, it may be worthwhile for children to be taught about the importance of apologies and forgiveness through apology prompting from their parents. However, there is limited research on parental apology prompting, as well as on parental attitudes on the developmental importance of child apologies. Guided by Family System Theory, we investigated whether the proclivity to apologize to and forgive a romantic partner is associated with positive parental attitudes on apologies and parental apology prompting. We also examined the role of childhood experiences with apologies, and moderators of these associations. We recruited a sample of parents of 3–10-year-olds. Parents’ proclivity to apologize to their romantic partner and their childhood experiences with apologies were positively associated with positive parental attitudes on apologies and parental apology prompting. The association between the proclivity to apologize to the romantic partner and parental apology prompting was mediated by positive parental attitudes on the developmental importance of child apologies. The proclivity to retaliate against the romantic partner was negatively associated with positive parental attitudes on apologies and parental apology prompting. Political conservatism and romantic relationship satisfaction moderated the association between the proclivity to apologize to the romantic partner and parental apology prompting. Further, we share measures of childhood experiences with apologies and parental attitudes on apologies that may be useful for future research. Results suggest that it may be advantageous for parent couples to prompt apologies from their children.