Forgiveness and Its Relationship with Social Connectedness and Subjective Well-Being

Introduction: The construct forgiveness has gained immense attention in recent times among the positive psychology researchers, considering the innumerable benefits that an individual can have due to the virtue. The present study was carried out to investigate whether forgiveness has any significant relationship with social connectedness and subjective well-being and to check whether forgiveness predicts social connectedness and subjective well-being among the college students of Kerala. Method: The sample of the study consisted of 531 college students (male=163; Mage=20.36, female=368; Mage= 20.18) from Kerala. The statistical analysis used were Pearson’s correlation coefficient and regression analysis. Results: The results of the study indicated there exist a significant positive correlation between forgiveness and social connectedness and between forgiveness and subjective well-being. The results further suggested that forgiveness significantly and positively predicted both the dependent variables, that is social connectedness and subjective well-being. Conclusion: As forgiveness is helpful in predicting social connectedness and subjective well-being, more focus can be given to the virtue, as the variables measured in the study is significant in promoting positive mental health.