Abstract
Based on the Vulnerability Stress Adaptation model, this study examined the relationship between forgiveness and marital stability, and provides a first look at the mediating role of marital quality in this association during the first 3 years of marriage based on three annual waves of data collected from 268 Chinese couples. Tests of actor–partner interdependence mediation models revealed direct effects of decisional forgiveness and emotional forgiveness on the concurrent levels of marital stability for husbands, and indirect effects of emotional forgiveness on the concurrent and longitudinal levels of marital stability through marital quality for both husbands and wives. There was also an indirect effect of wives’ emotional forgiveness on concurrent and longitudinal levels of husbands’ marital stability through their wives’ marital quality. Thus, emotional forgiveness, rather than decisional forgiveness, contributes to longitudinal levels of marital stability through marital quality. Theoretical implications and future directions for research are discussed.
Highlights
Marital stability, which refers to affective and cognitive states along the related actions that are precedent to terminating a relationship (Booth et al, 1983; Amato et al, 2007), is a key indicator of well-being (Karney and Bradbury, 1995)
We found that almost all key variables were positively correlated, with the only exception of the husbands’ and wives’ decisional forgiveness and their partner’s marital quality and stability, which were not significantly correlated
This study was among the first to apply a dyadic approach and a longitudinal design to test the predictions that decisional forgiveness and emotional forgiveness would be positively associated with marital stability, and that the relationships would be explained by marital quality within the context of the early
Summary
Marital stability, which refers to affective and cognitive states along the related actions that are precedent to terminating a relationship (Booth et al, 1983; Amato et al, 2007), is a key indicator of well-being (Karney and Bradbury, 1995). Previous research has focused extensively on the impact of negative factors, and has not paid sufficient attention to the role of positive interpersonal processes in marriage dissolution, such as forgiveness, commitment, and sacrifice (Reis and Gable, 2003; Fincham et al, 2007). Whereas interdependence theory highlights the importance of considering both actor effects and partner effects, few studies have taken a dyadic approach when examining forgiveness (Fincham, 2009). Fifth, research in this field has been conducted extensively with samples of Western couples from individualistic cultures. While collectivistic cultures emphasize forgiveness as an important step in restoring a relationship “toward harmony” (Exline and Baumeister, 2000, p. 138), the association between forgiveness and marital stability has rarely been examined with samples from these cultures
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