That higher state anxiety and symptom severity were associated with lower willingness to
forgive in males, but not in females, is an intriguing finding, particularly since the two sexes
did not differ on the WFS. Although these findings are not easy to explain, they do suggest
that there are aspects of mental health that are related to willingness to forgive in males, but
not in females. Contrada (1989) had suggested that the BAI might also detect, aside from
anxiety, symptoms of unexpressed anger, as associated with classic Type-A personality,
more a male characteristic than a female one. Thus, future research may test if it is
anger, as opposed to anxiety, or a combination of the two that is predictive of resistance
to forgiving.