Do Agreeableness and Neuroticism Explain Age Differences in the Tendency to Forgive Others?

Previous research has shown that age is positively related to a dispositional tendency to forgive others. the present investigation tested the hypothesis that agreeableness and neuroticism partially mediate the association between age and forgivingness. data from two representative cross-sectional samples of adults were used to test this hypothesis. results from study 1 (n = 962,age range: 19-84 years) support the hypothesis,indicating that agreeableness and neuroticism explained,in part,age differences in tendencies to forgive. study 2 (n = 451,age range: 20-83 years) replicated and extended the results by including transgression occurrences as a third mediator. the results showed that agreeableness and neuroticism explain the association between age and the tendency to forgive others over and above the effect of transgression occurrences. © 2012 by the society for personality and social psychology,inc.