As a result of the gerotranscendence process, marital satisfaction becomes especially important in old age. At the same time, researchers emphasise that the effect of seniors’ personality on their marital satisfaction depends on many mediators. The analysis of literature suggests that one such variable might be forgiveness. Thus, the aim of the present research was to investigate whether forgiveness mediates the relationship between personality traits and marital satisfaction in late adulthood. The study involved 315 participants aged 60–75. Three psychological methods were used: (a) the Marital Satisfaction Questionnaire for Older Persons; (b) the NEO-Five Factor Inventory; and (c) the Marital Offence-Specific Forgiveness Scale. The analyses that have been undertaken revealed a number of significant associations. Neuroticism was positively related to resentment-avoidance and negatively to benevolence and marital satisfaction, whereas extraversion, agreeableness and conscientiousness were negatively correlated with resentment and positively with benevolence and satisfaction. The results also showed that both dimensions of dyadic forgiveness mediated the relationships between personality traits and marital satisfaction in ageing persons. They suggest that forgiveness of a spouse, when enhanced, could work as a buffer against the negative impact of neuroticism on marital happiness, as well as allowing the transfer of positive aspects of extraverted, agreeable and conscientious tendencies into marriage. Practical implications of the study for counselling older adults are recommended.

作为超越性过程的结果，婚姻满意度在年老时变得尤为重要。同时，研究人员强调，老年人的性格对其婚姻满意度的影响取决于许多调解人。文献分析表明，这样的变量之一可能是宽恕。因此，本研究的目的是调查宽恕是否能在成年后期调解人格特质与婚姻满意度之间的关系。这项研究涉及315名60-75岁的参与者。使用了三种心理方法：（a）老年人的婚姻满意度调查表；（b）新近五种因素清单；（c）特定于婚姻罪行的宽恕量表。进行的分析揭示了许多重要的关联。神经质与避免怨恨成正相关，与仁慈和婚姻满意度成负相关，而外向性，顺从性和尽责性与怨恨成负相关，与仁慈和满意成正相关。结果还表明，二进制宽恕的两个维度都介导了老年人的人格特质与婚姻满意度之间的关系。他们认为，配偶的宽恕在得到增强时可以起到缓冲作用，抵制神经质对婚姻幸福的负面影响，并允许将外向的，令人愉快的和认真的倾向的积极方面转移到婚姻中。建议该研究对咨询老年人有实际意义。