Forgiveness and the appraisal-coping process in response to relationship conflicts: Implications for depressive symptoms

Abstract

The present investigation assessed the mediating role of appraisal-coping processes in the relation between forgiveness and depressive symptoms associated with intimate relationship conflicts. Study 1 assessed the role of forgiveness in the context of a severe relationship stressor, namely women experiencing dating abuse, along with the appraisal-coping responses and depressive symptoms associated with such a stressor. Study 2 evaluated the function served by forgiveness among men and women in response to non-abusive relationship stressors, including the dissolution of the relationship, and also assessed the relations among forgiveness, appraisal-coping processes, and depressive symptoms. Women who encountered dating abuse were less likely to forgive their partners, and this was linked to higher levels of depressive symptoms. The relation between forgiveness and lower depressive symptoms was partially mediated by lower threat appraisals, secondary appraisals of the effectiveness of emotion-focused coping, and the reduced endorsements of this coping strategy (Study 1). Appraisal-coping processes similarly mediated the relation between forgiveness and depressive symptoms among men and women reporting conflict in an ongoing (non-abusive) relationship or a relationship break-up (Study 2). It is suggested that the relation between forgiveness and diminished distress operates primarily by guiding individuals' appraisals of the conflict and by diminishing the reliance on emotion-focused coping.

Sex differences in outcomes and harasser characteristics associated with frightening sexual harassment appraisals.

“…Thus, primary appraisal shapes the emotional response an individual has to an event, whereas secondary appraisal shapes the behavioral response to the event (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984;Wright & Fitzgerald, 2007). Outcomes associated with a stressful encounter depend on both how it is appraised and the subsequent coping response (Peacock & Wong, 1990;Ysseldyk, Matheson, & Ansiman, 2009). Because events that are appraised more negatively during the primary appraisal process are more likely to tax or exceed an individual's available psychological and material resources, primary appraisal responses, specifically emotional responses, were of interest in the present study.…”

'He said he loved me. I wanted to be loved': Young women's experiences of coping with violence in intimate relationships.

“…Although the findings of the current study support the concept in the literature of forgiveness creating another chance for the relationship (Tsang & Stanford, 2007;Ysseldyk et al, 2009), the young women also described how forgiving their partners provided them with power and control over the situation because the young women gave their relationship another beginning; they did not identify forgiving their partners as reflecting their lack of power and control over IPV. Similar to the women in Tsang and Stanford's (2007) Communication with partners.…”

Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion, Volume 24

“…ysseldyk, Matheson, and Anisman (2009) compared 85 women who were currently experiencing physical or emotional abuse in their relationships to 99 men and women who were not in abusive relationships or had recently experienced a breakup. they found that women experiencing relationship abuse had lower levels of forgiveness and higher levels of depression.…”