Forgiveness moderates relations between psychological abuse and indicators of psychological distress among women in romantic relationships

Abstract

Forgiveness frequently occurs in a relational context and is a key ingredient for restoring and maintaining intimate relationships. Yet, certain interpersonal dynamics that sometimes motivate forgiveness (e.g. abuse) have the potential to adversely affect well-being, especially when ongoing exploitation occurs. In this study, we examined the role of forgiveness in moderating relations between psychological abuse and indicators of psychological distress in a sample of community-based South African women currently in a heterosexual romantic relationship. Participants (n=515) completed measures of decisional and emotional forgiveness of their partner, psychological abuse committed by their current partner during the course of the relationship, and depression, anxiety, and stress. Latent profile analysis identified two subgroups characterised by differing levels of forgiveness: partial forgiveness (high decisional forgiveness and moderate emotional forgiveness) and complete forgiveness (high decisional and emotional forgiveness). Regression analyses revealed that the relations of psychological abuse with depression and stress, but not anxiety, were moderated by ‘forgiveness of partner’. The complete forgiveness group scored lower on depression and stress when psychological abuse was lower, but higher on each outcome when psychological abuse was higher. The findings suggest that there may be conditions in which forgiveness of partner may promote or undermine the mental health of women who experience abuse perpetrated by their current partner.

Differential effects of decisional and emotional forgiveness on distress and well-being: A three-wave study of Indonesian adults

“…Neither decisional nor emotional forgiveness were found to be associated with subsequent anxiety symptoms, depression symptoms, or suffering. These findings largely diverge from prior work that suggests both decisional and emotional forgiveness tend to be related to lower distress (e.g., Kurniati et al, 2017 ; Cowden et al, 2019a ), although mixed evidence has been documented. For example, Mróz et al (2022) found that certain indicators of distress were uncorrelated with either one (e.g., depression symptoms) or both (e.g., negative affect) interpersonal forgiveness processes.…”

“…Emotional forgiveness involves replacing negative affect with positive other-oriented emotions, and therefore may be linked to even more positive effects on distress and well-being than decisional forgiveness ( Worthington et al, 2007b ; Sun et al, 2014 ; Webb and Toussaint, 2020 ). Consistent with this theorizing, existing evidence generally suggests that emotional forgiveness tends to have stronger negative associations with indicators of distress (e.g., depression symptoms, stress) and stronger positive associations with different indicators of well-being (e.g., relationship satisfaction, gratitude) compared to decisional forgiveness (e.g., Chi et al, 2019 ; Cowden et al, 2019a ; Wu et al, 2022 ). However, not all evidence is consistent with this picture, as some studies have reported stronger correlations with some indicators of distress (e.g., depression symptoms; Mróz et al, 2022 ) and well-being (e.g., perceived posttraumatic growth; Byra et al, 2022 ) for decisional forgiveness rather than emotional forgiveness.…”

“…Based on the findings of this study, interventions and other resources aimed at the promotion of interpersonal forgiveness among Indonesian adults might be particularly effective in supporting well-being over the short-term if they encourage people to make a decision to forgive under the right circumstances. Such circumstances might not include situations in which the transgressor is likely to take advantage of the forgiver ( McCullough, 2008 ; Cowden et al, 2019a ), unless strict controls can be exercised over the transgressor’s subsequent behavior by a third party capable of regulating behavior. Although decisional forgiveness might be the initial priority of culturally sensitive forgiveness interventions for Indonesian adults, more thorough processing of interpersonal forgiveness will require an emphasis on emotional forgiveness as well ( Kurniati et al, 2017 ).…”

Posttraumatic growth and interpersonal forgiveness in persons with physical disabilities.

“…Similar instructions were used as standard procedures (McCullough et al, 1998; Subkoviak et al, 1995) when examining forgiveness as a state, namely actual rather than habitual forgiving. Participants then completed the items from our item pool (similar to Cowden et al, 2019; Tabak & McCullough, 2011). They were requested to indicate the type of the offender and assess the severity of the wrongdoing, the intensity of apology being offered, and the quality of the relationship they had with the person.…”

Peer Victimization and Subjective Well-Being Among Chinese Adolescents: Moderated Mediation by Forgiveness and Self-Esteem

“…This is because when faced with higher levels of adversity, the beneficial effects of forgiveness may be offset by the risk of adversity, which compromises the ability of forgiveness to mitigate risks (Masten, 2014). For instance, in the broader psychological literature, Cowden et al (2019) found that forgiveness amplified the relationship between psychological abuse perpetrated by intimate partners and depressive symptoms among South African women in romantic relationships. That is, when the underlying psychological abuse was severe and persistent, forgiveness was no longer a protective factor-the protective effect was significantly diminished.…”