Anger toward God and well-being in Ukrainian war refugees: The serial mediating influence of faith maturity and decisional forgiveness

Experiencing war arouses feelings of injustice, which in turn can activate angry feelings toward God. The purpose of the present study was to assess the relationship between anger toward God, faith maturity, interpersonal decision-making, forgiveness, psychological well-being and spiritual well-being among war refugees from Ukraine who arrived in Poland and Germany. Data from paper-and-pencil surveys were collected from 243 religious people aged 18–68 years, 82% of whom were women. Structural equation modeling (SEM) showed that anger toward God is a negative predictor of faith maturity, forgiveness and well-being (including a psychological and spiritual component as a second-order variable). In addition, positive relationships were observed between faith maturity, forgiveness and well-being. Finally, faith maturity and forgiveness serially (and forgiveness also as a simple mediator) mediated the relationship of anger toward God and well-being. The results help to explain why people who feel anger toward God are still able to experience well-being, suggesting that faith maturity may inhibit angry feelings toward God through more frequent decisions to forgive abusers.