Forgiveness may be easier to accept than give, suggest the results of a University of Michigan study released last week. Some 75 percent of adults questioned in a phone survey said they were confident that God had forgiven them for past wrongdoing. But only 52 percent of participants said they had been able to forgive other people who had harmed them.

Almost 1,500 randomly chosen adults were questioned about forgiveness as part of a larger survey on consumer attitudes. Researchers found that women were more likely than men to forgive others, with 54 percent of women reporting a willingness to let bygones be bygones, compared with 49 percent of men.

The study results also showed a correlation between age and the ability to forgive. Older participants were more likely to report they had forgiven others.

Dr. Loren L. Toussaint, who headed the research, says the study results also offer a tantalizing suggestion that forgiveness pays dividends in better psychological and physical health. Participants over 45 years of age who had forgiven other people for past wrongs also reported fewer psychological problems, such as feeling hopeless, anxious, worthless, or restless.

Participants over the age of 65 who had forgiven others reported themselves in better health than did those in the same age group who had not forgiven others.

Dr. Angel Rodriguez, associate director for the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s Biblical Research Institute, says the results of the study should not come as a surprise to Christians. “It is natural for humans to be more prone to accept forgiveness than to grant it to others,” he says.  “This explains why Jesus insisted on the importance of forgiving others as we have been forgiven.”

From a theological perspective, “received forgiveness creates in us the need to forgive others,” says Rodriguez. “The genuineness of our acceptance of forgiveness is at least questionable if we are unable to forgive other people in turn.” He adds that the study results fit with the theological conviction that forgiveness between humans brings healing to both the giver and receiver.

The forgiveness study was funded by the Fetzer Institute, a private research center; the National Institute of Mental Health; and the University of Michigan.