Self-forgiveness in romantic relationships: 2. Impact on interpersonal forgiveness

Both self-forgiveness and other-forgiveness are associated with greater relationship satisfaction in the context of offences that occur in romantic relationships. The present research examines whether self-forgiveness for an offence committed against the partner leads subjects to be more forgiving toward the partner who subsequently transgress them, that, in turn, positively predicts subjects’ relationship satisfaction. Study 1 showed that self-forgiveness positively affected other-forgiveness in a scenario design employing university students. Study 2 found that, when considering reciprocal wrongdoings between cohabiting partners, self-forgiveness was positively related to relationship satisfaction both directly and indirectly, through other-forgiveness.