Between friends: Forgiveness, unforgiveness, and wrongdoing in same-sex friendships

Friendships fulfill needs for intimacy, belonging, and support and yet have rarely been the focus of forgiveness research. In this study, we explored forgiveness, unforgiveness, and young adults’ experiences of transgressions in same-sex friendships (N = 407). Our results suggest that, although forg...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of social and personal relationships Vol. 39; no. 6; pp. 1693 - 1716
Main Authors Boon, Susan D., Hojjat, Mahzad, Paulin, Mélanie, Stackhouse, Madelynn R. D.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London, England SAGE Publications 01.06.2022
Sage Publications Ltd
Subjects
Forgiveness
Friendship
Intimacy
Offending
Offenses
Remorse
Wrongdoing
Young adults
Forgiveness
friendship
transgressions
unforgiveness
offenses
friends
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Summary:Friendships fulfill needs for intimacy, belonging, and support and yet have rarely been the focus of forgiveness research. In this study, we explored forgiveness, unforgiveness, and young adults’ experiences of transgressions in same-sex friendships (N = 407). Our results suggest that, although forgiveness and unforgiveness share important antecedents (e.g., apology status, perceived remorse, and barriers to forgiveness), they are nevertheless empirically distinct constructs, both worthy of further investigation in friendships. For example, unforgiveness predicted unique variance in current friendship status controlling for forgiveness. We discuss several lessons learned from our study about the nature of responses to wrongdoing among same-sex friends (e.g., even when forgiven, offenses may cause longstanding changes in people’s views of their offending friends).
ISSN:0265-4075
1460-3608
DOI:10.1177/02654075211062272