Forgiveness as a coping strategy

The process of forgiveness is receiving increased research attention as both a state and a trait. Some observers have noted the conceptual similarity between forgiveness and some strategies of coping. The purpose of this research was to determine the degree of convergence between measures of forgiveness and measures of coping and,in particular, to determine if state or trait forgiveness are more closely linked with either problem-focused or emotion-focused coping or their components. College students (n = 241) completed surveys containing measures of both state and trait coping and state and trait forgiveness in counterbalanced order. Results indicated that although forgiveness was extensively related to the indexes of coping, for the most part, the correlations were modest. Although on balance the pattern of results appeared to suggest that forgiveness is more consistent with conceptualizations of problem-focused coping than emotion-focused coping, the pattern of results was far from clear. It is suggested that these results may be due to the overlap between problem-focused and emotion-focused strategies which has been recognized recently in the coping literature.