Why Do People With Self-Control Forgive Others Easily? The Role of Rumination and Anger

Fanchang Kong; Haibo Zhang; Haishuo Xia; Bo Huang; Jingkuan Qin; Yan Zhang; Xiaojun Sun; Zongkui Zhou

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00129

Why Do People With Self-Control Forgive Others Easily? The Role of Rumination and Anger

Front Psychol. 2020 Feb 20:11:129. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00129. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Fanchang Kong^{1

2}, Haibo Zhang^{1

2}, Haishuo Xia^{2

3}, Bo Huang^{1

2}, Jingkuan Qin^{1

2}, Yan Zhang⁴, Xiaojun Sun^{1

2}, Zongkui Zhou^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Adolescent Cyberpsychology and Behavior, Ministry of Education, Wuhan, China.
² School of Psychology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, China.
³ Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Beibei, China.
⁴ School of Educational Science, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China.

Abstract

Previous research shows that self-control predicts forgiveness, but few studies have investigated the internal mechanism of this link. The current study explored the effects of rumination and anger on the relationship between self-control and forgiveness. A total of 580 college students recruited from three universities in Wuhan completed the self-control, rumination, anger, and trait forgiveness scales. Results showed that self-control was positively correlated with forgiveness (r = 0.34, p < 0.001). Rumination (β = 0.08, p < 0.05) and anger (β = 0.13, p < 0.05) mediate the relationship between self-control and forgiveness. Moreover, a serial mediation effect of rumination and anger was observed between self-control and trait forgiveness (β = 0.02, p < 0.05). These findings suggest that self-control may impair individuals' rumination. Moreover, less rumination may restrain anger and consequently increase forgiveness.

Keywords: anger; rumination; self-control; serial mediation effect; trait forgiveness.