Stress and coping theories of forgiveness posit that self-forgiveness and forgiveness of others represent cognitive-emotional processes that may buffer the negative effects that traits like hostility have on health (Toussaint, Webb, & Hirsch, 2017). In the present study, we sought to extend the relatively small, but growing body of work on this topic by examining the extent to which self-forgiveness and forgiveness of others moderate the association between hostility and changes in cognitive impairment in a large 10-year longitudinal study of adults in the United States.

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