Population Research Center, The University of Texas at Austin, USA.
J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2012 Jan;67(1):66-75. doi: 10.1093/geronb/gbr121. Epub 2011 Dec 7.
This study examines the relationship between interpersonal forgiveness and health for older Blacks and Whites. We outline a series of arguments concerning the following: (a) how forgiveness can affect health, (b) how forgiveness may be more protective for Blacks, and (c) how the relationship between forgiveness and health may vary by neighborhood deterioration.
Two waves (2001 and 2004) of the Religion, Aging, and Health Survey provided data from a nationally representative elderly sample of 436 Blacks and 500 Whites. Measures included sociodemographics, forgiveness, and three dimensions of health: self-reported health, alcohol use, and chronic conditions. We employ both longitudinal and cross-sectional analyses.
Results suggest that forgiveness of others was protective of health for Blacks but not Whites. Moreover, among Blacks, we found the following: (a) forgiveness was positively associated with self-reported health over time, (b) forgiveness was negatively associated with alcohol use and number of chronic conditions, and (c) forgiveness interacted with neighborhood deterioration such that the beneficial effects of forgiveness for self-reported health did not extend to those living in run-down neighborhoods.
Race and neighborhood were shown to be important for understanding the forgiveness-health connection. Forgiveness was associated with better health for Blacks but not Whites, consistent with McCullough's evolutionary framework (McCullough, M. E. (2008). Beyond revenge: The evolution of the forgiveness instinct. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass), forgiveness was beneficial in some settings but had a deleterious impact in more noxious environments. This study suggests that researchers should give more consideration to race and social context in attempting to more fully understand the relationship between forgiveness and health.
本研究考察了人际宽恕与老年黑人和白人健康之间的关系。我们概述了一系列论点，涉及以下方面：（a）宽恕如何影响健康，（b）宽恕对黑人可能更具保护作用，以及（c）宽恕与健康之间的关系如何因邻里恶化而变化。
宗教、衰老和健康调查的两个波次（2001 年和 2004 年）提供了来自全国代表性的老年黑人和白人样本（436 名黑人，500 名白人）的数据。测量包括社会人口统计学、宽恕和健康的三个维度：自我报告的健康、酒精使用和慢性疾病。我们采用纵向和横断面分析。
结果表明，对他人的宽恕对黑人的健康具有保护作用，但对白人没有。此外，在黑人中，我们发现：（a）宽恕与自我报告的健康随着时间的推移呈正相关，（b）宽恕与酒精使用和慢性疾病数量呈负相关，以及（c）宽恕与邻里恶化相互作用，宽恕对自我报告的健康的有益影响不适用于居住在破旧社区的人。
种族和邻里环境被证明对理解宽恕与健康之间的联系很重要。宽恕与黑人的健康相关，但与白人无关，这与 McCullough 的进化框架一致（McCullough，M.E.（2008）。超越复仇：宽恕本能的进化。旧金山，CA：Jossey-Bass），在某些环境中，宽恕是有益的，但在更恶劣的环境中则有不良影响。本研究表明，研究人员在试图更全面地理解宽恕与健康之间的关系时，应更多地考虑种族和社会背景。
