Maranges Heather M, Fincham Frank D
The Family Institute and Department of Human Development and Family Science, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, United States.
Front Psychol. 2024 Feb 19;15:1292537. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1292537. eCollection 2024.
Although a majority of the world's population believes in a Higher Power and subscribes to a religion in which divine forgiveness is emphasized, little work has been done to understand individual differences associated with seeking divine forgiveness.
Building on work that suggests trait self-control facilitates well-being, the current study ( = 439, undergraduate students) applies structural equation modeling (SEM) to test whether believers higher (vs. lower) in trait self-control are more likely to seek divine forgiveness, and, in turn, have better psychological health.
We find that people higher in self-control engage in more divine forgiveness seeking ( = 0.16), and seeking divine forgiveness represents one of the pathways associated with psychological health (i.e., seeking is associated with higher well-being, = 0.21, and lower distress, = -0.07). Crucially, we operationalize both positive (well-being and flourishing) and negative (depression, anxiety, stress) aspects of psychological health and control for religiosity. These results suggest that for those who believe in God, seeking divine forgiveness may be one mechanism that links individuals' self-control to good psychological health, and this is not merely an artifact of higher levels of religiosity. Limitations and future directions are discussed.
尽管世界上大多数人都信仰一种更高的力量，并信奉强调神圣宽恕的宗教，但在理解与寻求神圣宽恕相关的个体差异方面，所做的工作很少。
基于表明特质自我控制有助于幸福的研究，本研究（N = 439，本科生）应用结构方程模型（SEM）来测试特质自我控制水平较高（相对于较低）的信徒是否更有可能寻求神圣宽恕，进而是否拥有更好的心理健康。
我们发现自我控制水平较高的人更频繁地寻求神圣宽恕（β = 0.16），并且寻求神圣宽恕是与心理健康相关的途径之一（即，寻求与更高的幸福感相关，β = 0.21，与更低的痛苦相关，β = -0.07）。至关重要的是，我们对心理健康的积极（幸福感和蓬勃发展）和消极（抑郁、焦虑、压力）方面进行了操作化，并控制了宗教信仰。这些结果表明，对于那些信仰上帝的人来说，寻求神圣宽恕可能是一种将个体的自我控制与良好心理健康联系起来的机制，而这不仅仅是更高宗教信仰水平的产物。讨论了研究的局限性和未来方向。
