The mediating effect of empathy, rumination, and anger on the relationship between narcissism and lack of interpersonal forgiveness

This study examined the mediating effect of empathy, rumination, and anger on the relationship between narcissism and lack of interpersonal forgiveness. The research method was correlational. The population of this study were all students of Qazvin universities from which 197 persons were selected as the research sample. To collect data, the Narcisistic Personality Questionnaire (Raskin & Terry, 1988), Lack of interpersonal forgiveness associated with the error, and the Empathy Scale (Batson & Shaw, 1991) were applied. The results of Pearson correlation showed a significant negative correlation between empathy and narcissism, and a positive correlation between narcissism and rumination/anger. The results also revaled a significant negative relationship between unforgiveness, rumination, and anger; however, no correlation was found between empathyand unforgiveness. Mediated regression test results revealed that narcissism had a significant effect on the rate of unforgiveness. In addition, the results showed that from among empathy, rumination, and anger, anger and rumination had mediating effect on the relationship between narcissism and unforgiveness. Thus, it can be concluded that if detailed behavioral variables such as the state of anger and rumination be considered, change in more general behaviors such as forgiveness might be achievable.