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Everett L. Worthington  Jr.Everett L. Worthington Jr.

Professor
www.people.vcu.edu/~eworth
www.forgiving.org

Contact information

Phone: (804) 828-1150
E-mail: eworth@vcu.edu

Education

Ph.D. (1978) University of Missouri-Columbia

Program affiliation

Counseling Psychology (primary), Social Psychology (secondary) and Developmental Psychology (secondary)

Research and clinical interests

I study forgiveness and related constructs (such as justice). I also have developed a marriage/couple enrichment psychoeducational group intervention, which has been adjudicated as one of four having enough evidence to merit a designation of empirically supported. I also study religion and spirituality in counseling and marriage, especially (but not exclusively) Christianity. Many publications combine two or three of these topics. I suppose these would all fit under a general heading of Positive Psychology today. Finally, I do (and have done throughout my career) occasional writing on supervision of counseling and psychotherapy and on lay counseling.

Selected publications

Worthington, E. L., Jr. (2006). Forgiveness and reconciliation: Theory and application. New York, NY: Brunner/Routledge.

Miller, A. J., Worthington, E. L., Jr., & McDaniel, M. (in press). Forgiveness and gender: A meta-analysis, review, and research agenda. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology.

Worthington , E. L., Jr., Witvliet, C. V. O., Pietrini, P., & Miller, A. J. (in press). Forgiveness and health. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, in press. online version.

Wade, N.G., Worthington, E.L., Jr., & Vogel, D. L. (2007). Effectiveness of religiously tailored interventions in Christian therapy. Psychotherapy Research, 17, 91-105.

Worthington , E. L., Jr., Hook, J. N., Wade, N. G., Lerner, A. J., & Sharp, C. B. (2008). The effects of therapists’ religion on marriage counseling. In J. Onedera (Ed.), Religion and marriage and family counseling: Marriage and family counseling series [Jon Carlson (Series Ed.)] (pp. 17-34). New York, NY: Taylor and Francis.

More publications [PDF]

Recent/current courses taught at VCU

  • Introduction to Psychology, undergraduate level
  • Positive Psychology, undergraduate level
  • Forgiveness: Theory, Research, and Practice, graduate level
  • Principles of Psychological Measurement, graduate level

Recent grants or awards
Worthington, E. L., Jr. (PI) & Michael McCullough (Co-I) and Steven Sandage (Co-I). Forgiveness and relational spirituality. Fetzer Institute, $350,000 (current)
Worthington, E. L., Jr. (PI). National study of the effectiveness of Christian marriage counseling. American Association for Christian Counselors Foundation, $39,000 (current)
Worthington, E. L., Jr. (PI). Multi-method measurement of forgiveness and marriage enrichment. Fetzer Institute, $11,000 (current)
Worthington, E.L., Jr. (PI), and Jane Talley (Co-0I). Prevention of youth violence in abused and neglected children through interventions with parents. Submitted to the Center for the Study and Prevention of Youth Violence, February 28, 2003, Funded, $7,650 (July 1, 2003 to Sept. 30, 2004) Award No. 2003-011.
Berry, J.W., (PI), Worthington, E.L., Jr. (Co-I). (January 2002 to December 2003). Warmth based versus conscientiousness-based virtues, altruistic personality trait, and expressions of altruistic and compassionate love. The Fetzer Institute, grant #1653.3, $86,324.
Worthington, E.L., Jr. (PI) (Aug. 1, 1997 to Aug. 1, 2001) Forgiveness, humility, and gratitude in recently married couples: An intervention study of some important laws of life. The John Templeton Foundation, grant #239, $295,068. (years 1 and 2). Extension, $10,900. (pilot study). Extension, $105,457 (year 3). Extension, $53,546 (year 4). Total award = $464,972.
Supplemental grant from NIH General Clinical Research Center Grants 5M01 RR000065-410535 (approx. $10,000 in assays for validity pilot study; approx. $10,000 in assays for the pilot study; approx. $80,000 in assays for main study).
Virginia Commonwealth University   |   College of Humanities and Sciences   |   Department of Psychology
808 West Franklin Street   |   Richmond, Virginia 23284-2018   |   Phone: (804) 828-1193
E-mail: jldavis@vcu.edu   |   Updated: 09/03/2007