Physical Health Status in Relation to Self-Forgiveness and Other-Forgiveness in Healthy College Students

Abstract

We extended prior research on the medical health-correlates of forgiving others by examining the relationship between self-forgiveness, other-forgiveness and health. Results derived from a cross-sectional survey of 266 healthy undergraduates showed that these dimensions of forgiveness were positively related to perceived physical health. Regression analysis revealed that self-forgiveness uniquely predicted a significant amount of variance in perceived physical health, and predicted more variance than did other-forgiveness. These results are discussed in light of the limitations of the current study and directions for future research.