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MU Study Finds Forgiveness Impacts Older Men and Women Differently

Jared Wong
/
Flickr

Researchers from the University of Missouri released a study tying mental health to forgiveness in older adults. By analyzing data from the Religion, Aging and Health Survey, Associate Professor of Human Development of Family Science Christine Proulx found a significant difference between how forgiveness impacts men and women's mental health.

The Religion, Aging and Health Survey collected data on over 1,000 older Americans in a two wave survey in 2001 and 2004. The survey participants were all 67 years and above, and most of them were Christian. The survey population was half white, half black, two-thirds women and one-third men.

Proulx said this data was important to analyze because of the role forgiveness plays in older adults' lives.

"We know that older adults are likely to think back on their lives," Proulx said. "They're also more likely to experience forgiveness."

Studies have shown being willing to forgive others is related to less depression. But Proulx complicated that by looking at three aspects of forgiveness to find their impact on mental health.

The three categories were how unforgiven older adults were feeling by other people, their ability to forgive themselves and how likely they were to forgive other people.

The study of the survey data found that men and women both experience similar rates of feeling unforgiven by others. But when the study looked at the impact of forgiving others, there was a significant difference between men and women.

Proulx said even if there are people not forgiving women, "So long as they're able to forgive others relatively easily, they do see lower levels of depression."

According to the study, even though older women typically experience higher rates of depression, forgiveness acts like a protective bubble.

"It encases them from that negative stuff coming from that unforgiveness," Proulx said.

Forgiving others can help a woman feel less depressed about those who have not forgiven her. On the other hand, men who were most likely to forgive others had the highest levels of depression.

"The ability to forgive others actually exacerbates the problem for men, whereas for women, it really does compensate," Proulx said.

Proulx can only speculate on what causes this difference, but she said it's possible that age might play a role. Forgiveness is often viewed as a feminine trait and Proulx said it's possible that older Americans who were covered in the survey were raised with more pronounced expectations for gender roles.

"They were raised in times of much more traditional gender roles than we might be experiencing now," Proulx said.

The study also considered that men in this generation are more likely to have served in a war, like World War II or Korea.

"There are men in this generation, what they had to do or what they did via military service, is not forgivable," Proulx said.

The feeling of what they've done cannot be forgiven may be undermining men's mental wellbeing, leading to the difference between men and women's levels of depression.

As this is the first study of its kind, Proulx hopes its finding will lead to more research to understand the dynamics of how and why forgiveness impacts mental health.

"It opens the door for forgiveness to become a more mainstream research topic," Proulx said.

Correction: An earlier version of this story stated the Religion, Aging and Health Survey population was half men and half women. The population was two-thirds women and one-third men.

Michaela Tucker is a Minneapolis native currently studying broadcast journalism at the University of Missouri. She is also a co-founder of KBIA’s partner program Making Waves, a youth radio initiative that empowers Columbia Public Schools students to share their stories.