It is conceivable that one’s level of self-forgiveness is likely to be influenced by the extent to which one feels forgiven by God. Also, self-forgiveness, especially when the self-offense involves wronging another, is likely to be influenced by the extent to which one feels forgiven by the victim. Therefore, this study was aimed at simultaneously examining the interplay between divine, victim, and self-forgiveness as well as their effects on psychological outcomes. In Study 1, we examined the relative strength of divine and victim forgiveness as predictors of self-forgiveness and found that divine and victim forgiveness predicted self-forgiveness independently from each other. In Study 2, we examined the unique effects of three types of forgiveness on psychological outcomes and found that while all three types of forgiveness are associated with each other, after controlling for the other two types of forgiveness, self-forgiveness alone predicted anger, anxiety, and depression. A further analysis showed that self-forgiveness mediated the relationship between divine and victim forgiveness and psychological outcomes. In other words, divine and victim forgiveness contribute to self-forgiveness, which in turn lead to better psychological outcomes.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.