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Abstract

Divine forgiveness is central to many religious traditions and is often thought to inform interpersonal forgiveness. However, little is known about how daily experiences of divine forgiveness shape real-time conflict within romantic relationships. Using a 14-day dyadic daily diary design, this study examined whether perceptions of divine forgiveness regarding treatment of one’s partner predict forgiveness, amend-making, and anger in different-gender, cohabiting romantic couples (N = 82 dyads; 87.8% married; 77.4% White; 83.5% Christian/Catholic). Multilevel models that parse between- and within-person variance in divine forgiveness revealed that on days when individuals reported greater divine forgiveness, they also reported more forgiveness and amend-making toward their partner, suggesting that experiences of divine forgiveness may support same-day relational repair. Between-person effects further revealed that women experiencing higher levels of God’s forgiveness reported making more amends for their behavior, while men higher in divine forgiveness reported being more forgiving; these effects were corroborated by partner reports and extended to reports of these outcomes the following day. Interestingly, divine forgiveness was not associated with self-reported anger but showed mixed effects regarding perceptions of partner anger. Together, findings suggest that divine forgiveness operates both as a dispositional resource and as a dynamic process that supports relationship repair, particularly for minor, daily conflicts.

Keywords

Divine forgiveness conflict interpersonal forgiveness daily diary romantic relationships

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Between- and within-person effects of divine forgiveness: A dyadic,longitudinal examination in romantic relationship conflicts

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