Forgiveness, Stress, and Health: a 5-Week Dynamic Parallel Process Study

BackgroundPsychological stress is a well-known risk factor for poor health, and recent research has suggested that the emotion-focused coping process of forgiveness may help mitigate these effects. To date, however, no studies have examined how levels of forgiveness, stress, and health fluctuate and interrelate over time.PurposeWe addressed this issue by examining how forgiveness, stress, and mental and physical health symptoms change and relate to one another over 5weeks. We hypothesized that increases in state levels of forgiveness would be associated with decreases in perceptions of stress, which would in turn be related to decreases in mental and physical health symptoms. A reverse effects model was also tested.MethodsWe recruited a large, community-based sample of 332 young, middle-aged, and older adults (16-79years old; M age = 27.9). Each week for 5weeks, participants reported on their levels of state forgiveness, perceived stress, and mental and physical health symptoms.ResultsLevels of forgiveness, stress, and mental and physical health symptoms each showed significant change and individual variability in change over time. As hypothesized, increases in forgiveness were associated with decreases in stress, which were in turn related to decreases in mental (but not physical) health symptoms (i.e., forgiveness → stress → health). The reverse effects model (i.e., health → stress → forgiveness) provided a relatively poorer fit.ConclusionsThis study is the first to provide prospective, longitudinal evidence showing that greater forgiveness is associated with less stress and, in turn, better mental health. Strategies for cultivating forgiveness may thus have beneficial effects on stress and health.