Krause, N., & Ellison, C. G. (2003). Forgiveness by God, forgiveness of others, and psychological well-being in late life.

Vol. 42(1), 77-94

Forgiveness has recently received increased scholarly attention due to its empirically supported enhancement of physical and psychological well-being. Such studies suggest that the ability to forgive results in less frequent symptoms of distress. The authors propose to investigate three aspects of forgiveness and psychological well-being that remain largely unexamined. The authors assert that most research on forgiveness examines the effects of forgiving others. The authors attempt to replicate findings by Toussaint et al. (2001), which suggest that forgiving others exerts a more beneficial effect on psychological distress and life satisfaction than forgiveness by God. Secondly, the authors recognize that forgiveness takes various forms and thus plan to examine the relative effects on psychological distress of unconditional forgiveness and forgiveness contingent on acts of contrition. Lastly, the authors examine the factors contributing to the requirement that transgressors performs acts of contrition and speculate that participants who feel forgiven by God may be more likely to forgive unconditionally.

The data for this study come from a nationwide survey of older whites and African Americans. Identifying information was obtained from the Health Care Finance Administration Medicare Beneficiary Eligibility List. The sample was restricted to white and African American English-speaking household residents who were of at least 66 years of age and living in the continental United States. A total of 1,316 cases were analyzed, consisting of 51% whites and 48% female, with an average age of 74.5 years (SD = 6.4 years).

Prior to this study, Krause (2002) conducted focus groups, in-depth interviews, and cognitive interviews with older whites and African Americans in order to develop self-report items that reflect how such individuals experience religion in daily life. In the present study, three self-report items were used to assess whether participants feel resentful toward others, hold grudges, and are able to forgive. Experience of forgiveness by God was measured with a single self-report item. If participants indicated that they forgave others, they were asked to list any acts of contrition they required transgressors to complete. Life Satisfaction, or a subjective assessment of the overall conditions of life as compared to one's aspirations, was measured by two items from the Life Satisfaction Index A and one item constructed by the authors to assess overall life satisfaction. Similar to prior research, psychological distress was assessed using indicators taken from the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale, which assesses both depressed affect and somatic symptoms. The authors also utilized a psychological distress outcome measure not previously utilized. The authors compared the effects of forgiveness by others and by God on death anxiety. Life-span development research suggests that, in order for older individuals to accept their lives and avoid despair, resolution of guilt and intrapsychic and family conflicts must occur. The authors thus conclude that forgiveness by God and by others may greatly contribute to the alleviation of intrapsychic and interpersonal tensions, thereby, lessening death anxiety.

Consistent with prior research, participants who forgave others enjoyed greater psychological well-being than those who were less willing to forgive. While forgiveness by God was also associated with greater feelings of well-being, this salubrious effect was not as great as that associated with forgiveness of others. Feelings of death anxiety were significantly greater among participants who were unwilling to forgive others. Forgiveness contingent on acts of contrition was associated with decreased psychological well-being, indicating that some manners of forgiveness may actually have detrimental effects. Finally, the data indicate that participants who believed that they are forgiven by God were more likely to forgive others unconditionally.

The authors indicate that their study could be limited by the trait-like manner in which they treated forgiveness. They speculate that willingness to forgive may be dependent on the frequency of transgressions and the severity of specific acts. In addition, the authors highlight that the ordering of constructs in the regression equations could be reversed, arguing that depressed participants may be less likely to believe that God has forgiven them. The authors suggest that, in future studies, data be gathered at different points in time to avoid this limitation. The authors also suggest that future research examine the specific factors that decrease the psychological benefits of requiring acts of contrition and the possible psychosocial influences that encourage people to forgive.