Forgiveness and Aggression Among College Students

Abstract

Violence is a serious health concern on and around college campuses in the United States. While spirituality is associated with health-related issues, little is known regarding its association with aggression among college students. Cross-sectional associations between forgiveness and aggression were examined among college students in Southern Appalachia (n = 494; ♀ = 74%; M_age = 22). Using multiple regression analyses and independent of demographic variables and religiousness, forgiveness of self and forgiveness of others but not feeling forgiven by God, were associated with lower levels of a variety of forms of aggression, with mostly medium effect sizes.

Keywords:

• forgiveness
• aggression
• college students
• religiousness/spirituality

Notes

1. While religiousness and spirituality are commonly considered to be closely related, if not synonymous, distinctions are also made (cf. Zinnbauer & Pargament, 2005). Webb (2007) proposed a model wherein the term spirituality is redefined to be more accurately employed as a single construct with three interrelated dimensions: (a) religious or ritualistic spirituality (a structured connection with deity), (b) theistic spirituality (a nonstructured connection with deity), and (c) existential spirituality (a nontheistic search for meaning and purpose).

2. Aggression can be considered an aspect of health inasmuch as it is considered to reflect unhealthy affect, cognition, and behavior (cf. DeWall & Anderson, 2011; Slotter & Finkel, 2011). Likewise, it is considered to be a core component (conceptually and empirically) of the dimensional diagnosis of psychopathology (Krueger, Markon, Patrick, Benning, & Kramer, 2007; Krueger, Markon, Patrick, & Iacono, 2005; Tackett & Krueger, 2011). Indeed, the ACHA includes various types of aggression (outlined previously) in its ongoing comprehensive data collection efforts regarding college student health (ACHA, 2010).