Forgiveness and Happiness of Others
Forgiveness is a concept of growing interest in psychology and its potential relevance to public health. While there is a growing body of evidence suggesting a positive association between forgiveness of others and a range of psychosocial well-being and mental health outcomes, the link to health behaviors and physical health is less clear, so we present the research that has been investigated.
In this study.
used longitudinal data from the Nurses' Health Study II and conducted an analysis of the overall results among a cohort of female nurses in the United States (age range: 43-64 years). The study prospectively examined the association between forgiveness of a spiritually motivated other and subsequent psychosocial well-being, mental health, health behaviors, and physical health outcomes in midlife.
A set of linear, logistic, and Poisson regression models were used to regress each outcome on forgiveness in a separate model. Sociodemographic factors, attendance at previous religious services, and previous values of all outcome variables were controlled for where data were available. A Bonferroni correction was performed to account for multiple testing.
As a result.
Forgiveness was associated with subsequent improvements in psychosocial well-being and reduced psychological distress outcomes in a monotonic pattern. For example, top and bottom levels of forgiveness were associated with significantly higher levels of subsequent positive affect and with social integration.
And it was inversely associated with some indicators of subsequent psychological distress, such as depressive symptoms. In this sample, however, there was little evidence that forgiveness was associated with health behaviors or physical health outcomes.
Long, K.N.G., Worthington, E.L., VanderWeele, T.J. et al. Forgiveness of others and subsequent health and well-being in mid-life: a longitudinal study BMC Psychol 8, 104 (2020). Available at: https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-020-00470-w
Conclusion
The results of this study show that in addition to the previously mentioned psychological well-being of receiving forgiveness, the quality of food was reported to improve. There was no association reported for physical outcomes other than eating, so it seems that forgiveness has a positive effect on mental health.
When I saw this study, I thought it was a very convincing research result because it reminded me of the scenes I saw in movies where people constantly ask priests for forgiveness due to their religion, etc., and they look happy after receiving forgiveness.In Japan, when people ask for forgiveness, it is usually when they have caused a lot of trouble, and they tend to try to live their lives in a way that does not cause trouble. I also wondered if I was prone to sickness.
I don't have a religion that I believe in, so I don't know what's really going on, but I'm wondering if this is also a factor for people who fall for shady new religions.
