Correlational Study of Forgiveness with Life Satisfaction and Self-Esteem Among College Students

Forgiveness is the transition of an individual’s response to a transgression or an offense from negative response to positive or at least neutral response. The research had been conducted to study the correlation between forgiveness and life satisfaction and forgiveness and self-esteem of undergraduate and postgraduate college students between the age range of 18 to 25 years, belonging to the streams of art, science and commerce. The research focuses on studying dispositional forgiveness and its sub dimensions: forgiveness of self, forgiveness of others and forgiveness of situations in relation to life satisfaction and self-esteem. The data for measuring forgiveness was collected using the heartland forgiveness scale (HFS), whereas life satisfaction and self-esteem were measured using the satisfaction with life scale (SWLS) and Rosenberg self-esteem scale respectively. A total of 60 students (M=15; F=45) were selected as sample participants for the study. The results obtained using statistical analysis revealed that forgiveness and its dimensions, namely, forgiveness of self, others and situations had a significant positive correlation with life satisfaction and self-esteem of college students. Regression analysis also showed that forgiveness and its dimensions accounted for a significant variance in the levels of life satisfaction and self-esteem of college students.