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A Meta-analysis of the Association Between Forgiveness of Others and Physical Health

Yu-Rim Lee
Robert D. Enright
All your life you’re told forgiveness is for you. But we’re never told why it’s for you. It means you’re working on owning your life.
Shani Tran
Therapist and Founder, The Shani Project
Forgiveness is nothing less than the way we heal the world. We heal the world by healing each and every one of our hearts. The process is simple, but it is not easy.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu
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A Meta-analysis of the Association Between Forgiveness of Others and Physical Health

Yu-Rim Lee
Robert D. Enright
NO. of participants
Date
2019
Type of Evidence
Type of Paper
Integrative/Synthetic Review
Empiricism
open access
Yes
No
sample size
58531

This meta-analysis tested the relation between forgiveness of others and physical health (PH) with age, gender, race, education level, employment status, sample type, research design, type of PH variables, and publication status as the potential moderators. Eligible studies had participants with or without physical or mental health problems and had quantitative data on forgiveness of others and PH. The random-effects model was used to aggregate Fisher’s z effect sizes, which were converted back to correlation coefficients. State forgiveness (forgiving an offense or offender) measures, trait forgiveness (a disposition to forgive) measures and physical health measures were included in the meta-analysis. A hundred and twenty-eight studies (N = 58,531) were retrieved, in which the mean effect sizes showed a significant positive relationship between forgiveness of others and PH (r = 0.14, p < 0.001, 95% CI [0.11, 0.17]). Further, no moderators showed a significant relation between forgiveness of others and PH. The positive relation between forgiveness of others and PH was not affected by potential moderators. Because the results are correlational, more forgiveness interventions may be needed to examine the causal effect of the relation between forgiveness of others and PH.

Research
Non-Region Specific
Mental Health Professionals
Supporting Research
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