Agreeableness and interpersonal forgiveness in young adults: the moderating role of gender

Résumé 0

Interest in psychological correlates and personality substrates of forgiveness has been growing recently. Empirical evidences have suggested that agreeableness may be the most robust predictor of forgiveness and revenge. This article examined gender differences in the relationship between this dispositional quality and interpersonal forgiveness in a sample of young adults. This study also tested the role of gender as a potential moderating factor between dispositional traits and forgiveness dimensions. While no gender differences were found in agreeableness in our sample, females scored lower in motivation to avoid while males scored higher in motivation to revenge. Results also indicated that agreeableness was significantly associated with motivations to avoid (only in males) and seek revenge (for both genders). Finally, gender also moderated the association between agreeableness and motivation to revenge. Our findings are discussed in terms of the need for future research to consider these differences in further positive psychology intervention programs.