Types of forgiveness
Forgiveness of others refers to pardoning someone for the other person’s transgressions and letting go of retribution. Self-forgiveness refers to acknowledging one’s responsibility for a transgression then releasing self-condemnation. Divine forgiveness acknowledges that God (or some other expression of a higher power) forgives completely one’s transgressions.
Other forgiveness and emotional well-being
Does forgiving real-life interpersonal hurts lead to improved psychological health? Researchers conducted semi-structured interviews with 11 adults (mostly British and Irish) who practiced forgiveness in response to various emotional distresses. Most of the participants linked forgiveness to perceived mental well-being, including reduction in negative affect, feeling positive emotions, positive relations with others, spiritual growth, a sense of purpose and meaning in life, and a greater sense of empowerment. Participants connected lack of forgiveness to greater negative affect, reduced cognitive abilities, and reduced psychological and social growth. For this small sample, forgiving improved emotional well-being.
Divine forgiveness
Research reliably links self-forgiveness and well-being. Nevertheless, research typically ignores Divine forgiveness, which makes little sense given that about three-quarters of Americans self-identify as religious. Researchers at Florida State University studied whether self-forgiveness and divine forgiveness similarly predicted two different measures of well-being (satisfaction with life, depressive symptoms). Survey data came from 345 mostly female college students with an average age of 20 years. Both self-forgiveness and divine forgiveness independently predicted satisfaction with life (positively) and depressive symptoms (negatively). In addition, high levels of Divine forgiveness moderated the adverse effect of low self-forgiveness on depressive symptoms. Perhaps people who can’t forgive themselves can avoid bad health outcomes by feeling that they’re Divinely forgiven.
Results of a well-designed study
Forgiveness may be a pathway that links religiosity / spirituality to improved mental and physical health. Most studies in this realm, such as previous two, have had serious defects, namely small convenience samples and cross-sectional design. Researchers at Harvard remedied this situation using data from two large longitudinal cohorts, the Nurses’ Health Study II and offspring of Nurses’ Health Study II participants that formed the Growing Up Today Study. The number of participants in the Growing Up Today Study ranged from 5,246 to 6,994 depending on the particular analysis. Follow-up ran from 3 to 6 years. Self-reported Divine forgiveness, other forgiveness, and self-forgiveness data were each grouped in three categories of 1) never or seldom, 2) often, or 3) always or almost always. Analyses covered a total of 26 psychological well-being, mental health, physical health, health behaviors, and volunteering and civic engagement factors.
Compared to participants who scored never or seldom in forgiveness, participants with higher forgiveness of others, self-forgiveness, and Divine forgiveness scores had significantly higher psychological well-being (five categories) and mental health (two categories) at the end of follow-up. Curiously, forgiveness of any kind did not predict significantly improved physical health or health behaviors, or volunteering and civic engagement. These results accounted for a host of confounding factors including binge drinking, illicit drug use, and depressive symptoms. Forgiveness, regardless of type, might be a psychological asset that promotes better psychological health and well-being and mental health.
Forgive and sleep more and better?
Might forgiveness achieve its hypothesized health benefits directly through more sleep or indirectly through greater sleep quality and quantity? Researchers tested this idea with a nationally representative cross-sectional sample of 1,432 US adults with an average of 44 years. As expected, both forgiveness of others and self-forgiveness directly and significantly predicted greater sleep, which in turn predicted better sleep quality and quantity. Both forgiveness of others and self-forgiveness directly predicted better health, which, in turn predicted significantly less psychological distress and greater life satisfaction and physical health. In addition, better sleep significantly predicted better health. Thus, forgiveness of others and self-forgiveness may promote more sleep and better health through multiple pathways.
Self-forgiveness, Divine forgiveness, and psychosocial well-being and psychological distress
Forgiveness research has focused on forgiving others for real or imagined transgressions. Such studies have identified several benefits of other-oriented forgiveness, including reduced numbers of chronic health conditions (hypertension and heart disease). Researchers pay much less attention to self-forgiveness and Divine forgiveness. A recent report used data from over 50,000 female participants with an average of 53 years in the Nurses’ Health Study II to address this deficiency. Participants responded to the following questions using a 4-point scale: 1) I have forgiven myself for things I have done wrong, and 2) I know that God or a higher power forgives me.
Compared to participants who reported never or seldom forgiving themselves, those who reported always or almost always forgiving themselves had significantly higher measures of psychosocial well-being (positive mood, social integration), and significantly lower measures of psychological distress (depression symptoms, anxiety symptoms, hopelessness, loneliness). Compared to participants who reported they were never or seldom Divinely forgiven, those who reported always or almost always being Divinely forgiven had significant higher measures of psychosocial well-being (positive mood, social integration), and significantly lower measures of psychological distress (depression symptoms, hopelessness, loneliness) but to a lesser extent. All these results accounted for confounding factors. Analyses showed little evidence of either type of forgiveness predicting better physical health or health behaviors. Learning to forgive oneself and believing in Divine forgiveness may lead to better psychosocial well-being.
What motivates Divine forgiveness?
Divine forgiveness researcher Frank Fincham hypothesized that a decision to pursue Divine forgiveness initiates the process of seeking divine forgiveness. Fincham and a colleague tested this hypothesis with two studies of Christian-identifying undergraduate students (mostly female) at a large southeastern US university. In the first study, with 190 students read four short scenarios based on the Transgressional Narrative Test of Forgiveness. The test proved to be an adequate measure of forgiveness. In the second study, with 390 students, repeated the first study but extended the follow-up period from 6 to 12 weeks. Both studies controlled for religiosity and found links between a person’s image of God, attachment and closeness to God, and the likelihood of seeking Divine forgiveness. Thus, persons with a benign view of and a close connection to God were more likely to decide to pursue Divine forgiveness.
What to do
Learn to forgive yourself and others and to accept Divine forgiveness so you don’t dwell unnecessarily on a past that you cannot change. Plus, forgiving may help you achieve better psychological well-being and better mental health. Fred Luskin’s readable book, Forgive for Good, provides practical tools for forgiving.
