The Relationship of Offense-Specific Forgiveness to Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms in College Students

The relationship between offense-specific forgiveness and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms was examined in a cross-sectional survey of 178 college students reporting interpersonal trauma exposure, that is, a trauma exposure in which they identified a specific perpetrator. Higher levels of offense-specific forgiveness were significantly related to lower levels of PTSD symptoms. In path analyses, however, when gender and offense severity were allowed to directly predict both forgiveness and PTSD symptoms, the relationship was reduced to marginal significance. Exploratory analyses revealed that within the five most-commonly endorsed trauma subtypes, the relationship between forgiveness and PTSD symptoms may differ in strength and direction as a function of trauma type. Implications for research and treatment are discussed.