Countering Deficits: Relational Sanctification, Forgiveness, and Family Functioning Among Older, Romantically Involved African Americans

Despite the significance of romantic relationships in later life, relatively little research has focused on older African Americans, a population highly engaged in religious behaviors. Forgiveness often mediates the relationship between relational sanctification and various positive relational outcomes. This study examined forgiveness as a mediator between relational sanctification and family functioning among older African American couples. It used dyadic data from 194 African American couples aged 50 to 86. The relationships between men's relational sanctification and men's reports of family functioning were partially mediated by men's self-reported ability to forgive their partner (<i>B</i> = .045) and the sum of all men's and women's reported abilities to forgive and perceive forgiveness (<i>B</i> = .124). However, these associations were not statistically significant for women. These findings highlight the growing yet underrecognized need to understand the religiosity of older African American men relative to positive relational outcomes.