Towards Marital Satisfaction:The Role of Aggression and forgiveness

Research on the resolution of interpersonal conflict has shown that forgiveness is important promoting prosocial interactions in marriage and aggression can serve a healthy function in a marriage signalling that the boundaries are violated. It can be a motivator for resolving the differences. The present study speaks of the gap between basic research on the role of forgiveness as an arbitrator in a marriage managing aggression .Also it attempts to explore the role of tenure as a catalyst of aggression in marriage. The study is a relational work on the role of forgiveness and aggression in marital satisfaction. It was hypothesized that the relationship between investigating variables (Aggression, forgiveness and marital satisfaction) will be significant. The sample comprised of fifty couples selected through snowball sampling (n=100). For data collection marital satisfaction scale, Novaco Anger Scale and Heartland Forgiveness Scale were used. The data was analyzed using the Pearson's product moment correlation, regression and factor analysis. Results show that there exists a positive relationship between forgiveness and marital satisfaction. A negative relationship exists between aggression and forgiveness and between aggression and marital satisfaction. Also tenure does not moderate but forgiveness mediates the effect of aggression on marital satisfaction. Through this research knowing the role of forgiveness and the influence of aggression on marriage can help predict and ultimately prevent marital distress by offering current interventions focused on aggressive styles of partners and helping the couples foster forgiveness by changing the victim's attribution for the hurtful event and by inducing the victim to feel empathy towards the offending spouse (Worthington et al.,1998).