Social Support and Affect Balance Mediate the Association Between Forgiveness and Life Satisfaction

The present study aimed at analyzing the important role of forgiveness in life satisfaction and to extend the previous literature by investigating the potential mediating effects of social support and affect balance in this relationship. Self-report measures of forgiveness, social support, positive affect, negative affect and life satisfaction were administrated to 430 Chinese university students. Path analysis indicated that forgiveness exerted its indirect effect on life satisfaction through the mediating effects of social support and affect balance and the three-path mediating effect of social support-affect balance. Furthermore, a multi-group analysis showed that the mediational model was not moderated by gender. Therefore, this study makes a contribution to the complex nature of the association between forgiveness and life satisfaction.