The Intersection of Forgiveness and Depression Among Adults

Introduction: Depression continues to be a major health concern among adults in the United States, and the incidence and severity of depression may have been exacerbated in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is essential to identify potential protective factors against depression. Forgiveness, spirituality, and religious affiliation are such potentially accessible factors among adults. This study explores the relationship between forgiveness and depression as well as differences in depressive scores across religiously affiliated and nonaffiliated adults. Methods: We recruited an online sample of N = 102 adults (68.3% cisgender women, 69.2% Christian, M age = 44.14, SD age = 12.25) via online advertisement. Participants completed self-report measures of demographics, forgiveness, spirituality, and depression. Results: More than one third of the sample met the clinical cutoff for moderate to severe depressive symptoms. Results of a hierarchical regression indicated a significant and inverse relationship between forgiveness and depressive symptoms. In the final model, age, gender, religious affiliation, and spirituality were not significantly associated with depression. Discussion: Consistent with the extant literature, forgiveness was significantly associated with less depression in this sample of adults. However, our finding that religious affiliation, spirituality, and gender were not significantly associated with depression is inconsistent with prior research. While results do not reveal causal relationships, findings suggest the importance of considering forgiveness a potentially protective factor against depression among adults.