title: Associations between women's experiences of sexual violence and forgiveness.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to examine forgiveness and sexual violence among college women. Undergraduate women (N = 503) completed an online survey assessing experiences of sexual violence and forgiveness. Simultaneous multivariate regressions revealed that experiencing more sexual violence was associated with more revenge and avoidance, and less benevolence. Furthermore, findings indicated that more experiences of sexual violence were negatively associated with forgiveness of self, forgiveness of others, and forgiveness of uncontrollable situations. This work begins to fill critical gaps in the extant literature because it is the only study to date that examines sexual violence and the positive psychological construct of forgiveness. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.
authors.affiliation: University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Department of Educational Psychology, College of Education and Human Sciences, Lincoln, NE 68588-0345, USA. mdavidson2@unl.edu
authors.forename: M Meghan
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Davidson
authors.affiliation: University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68588-0345, USA.
authors.forename: Nicole M
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Lozano
authors.affiliation: University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68588-0345, USA.
authors.forename: Brian P
authors.initials: BP
authors.lastname: Cole
authors.affiliation: University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68588-0345, USA.
authors.forename: Sarah J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Gervais
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D018585:Battered Women / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D019548:Crime Victims / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D061347:Forgiveness; D006167:Guilt; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D020377:Self Efficacy; D013179:Spouse Abuse / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016387:Women's Health; D055815:Young Adult