Relative contributions of actor and partner forgiveness and attachment to couples' functioning

Objective: The objective of this study was to examine the relative contributions of actor and partner forgiveness and attachment to couples' functioning. Background: Violations of expectations between romantic partners are inevitable and may cause severe relationship distress. Both forgiveness and secure attachment enhance constructive emotion regulation with positive effects on relationship functioning. Although these effects have been well documented in isolation, the relative contributions of forgiveness and attachment to relationship functioning have hardly been studied. This is unfortunate, as such knowledge could inform effective interventions. Method: A large Dutch national population sample representative in terms of age and education (N = 1,014 couples) was recruited and actor and partner effects of forgiveness and attachment on relationship satisfaction and instability were examined by applying actor-partner interdependence modeling (APIM). Results: Separate examination showed that actor and partner forgiveness explained 14.2% of the variance of relationship satisfaction and 7.2% of instability, while attachment explained 46.7% and 18.9%, respectively. Simultaneous examination showed shrinkage of forgiveness effects, whereas attachment effects remained robust. Actor avoidance was the main predictor of both outcomes, whereas partner forgiveness displayed small to nonsignificant effects. Conclusion: Effects of forgiveness on relationship satisfaction and stability are modest compared to attachment. Implications: The results suggest the importance of not framing relationship problems exclusively in terms of forgiveness but also in terms of the more inclusive attachment conceptualization of emotion regulation, in order to broaden the potential impact of interventions.