Does Spirituality Add to Personality in the Study of Trait Forgiveness?

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

7-1-2004

Department

Psychology

Abstract

Forgiveness has historically been considered a theological construct and has only recently received significant empirical study outside of the professional religion literature. Much of the recent study by psychologists has looked at the relationship between personality and forgiveness. Recent evidence indicates that personality plays a strong role in the study of forgiveness, but the literature has been limited. This study sought to determine whether spirituality, as measured by the Spiritual Well-Being Scale and the Spiritual Transcendence Scale, accounted for a significant portion of the variance beyond that of personality in the study of dispositional forgiveness. Results using multiple regression models indicated that spirituality explained a significant amount of the variance but was contained primarily in only one factor. Additionally, forgiveness of others was significantly correlated with all of the spirituality subscales whereas forgiveness of self was related to only one subscale. The two spirituality instruments showed some overlap but appear to be measuring different facets of spirituality. Results are discussed in light of self and other forgiveness motivations. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Publication Title

Personality and Individual Differences

Volume

37

Issue

1

First Page

147

Last Page

156

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