Forgiveness and relationship quality: A dyadic perspective

Pages: 57-61
Bhavana Arya and Neha Kaushik (Department of Psychology, The IIS University, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India)

As Thibaut and Kelly (1959), said in their Interdependence Theory that, two people involved in a relationship are interdependent on outcomes of their behavior. When two people need to be considered simultaneously in an interpersonal system, it is called a dyad, which is the core area of relationship research. As researchers and clinicians showed interest in forgiveness in recent years and recognized its value for maintaining emotional well-being, physical health, and healthy intimate relationships. Forgiveness appears to be an important factor of the marital relationship, which is seen as an exciting area for future exploration and one that is ripe with possibility. The purpose of the study is to examine the dyadic relationship between forgiveness and relationship satisfaction among 80 married couples including both actor and partner effects. Hypotheses are tested by using marital adjustment test, revised dyadic adjustment scale and marital-offence specific scale. Results shown through Pearson’s product-moment correlation coefficients (r) actor and partner forgiveness were found to correlate positively with the outcome variable of relationship satisfaction.