Forgiveness and gratitude as correlates of mental health

Pages: 21-26
Varsha Rani, Hemlata, Anjali Malik and Sarvdeep Kohli (Department of Psychology, Maharishi Dayanand University, Rohtak, Haryana)

Forgiveness and Gratitude are character strengths that have direct and indirect associations with well being and mental health. This paper examines these connections or associations among young adults. So for this purpose, total sample comprising of 60 subjects (30 males and 30 females) within the age range of 22-28 years from Rohtak city was chosen. Tools utilized were Heartland Forgiveness Scale, the Gratitude Questionnaire- six item form (GQ-6) and the Mental Health Continuum Short Form (MHC-SF). Results indicate that both forgiveness and gratitude are related together as well as have a very strong positive relationship with mental health with forgiveness being the stronger predictor of the two. The study implicates that there is a great need to inculcate positive psychological strengths like forgiveness and gratitude in young adults to allow them to enjoy enhanced psychological well-being.