Does forgiveness alleviate depression after being phubbed for emerging adults? The mediating role of self-esteem

Phubbing, or the act of snubbing someone in a face-to-face interaction by using a smartphone, is a ubiquitous phenomenon in the digital era. A person being phubbed can feel neglected and has an increased risk of mental illness. The present study examined how being phubbed is related to depression, mediated through self-esteem. Furthermore, this study examined the moderating effect of dispositional forgiveness on the relationship between being phubbed and depression via self-esteem. It was predicted that self-esteem would mediate the relationship between being phubbed and depression, and that this mediating effect would be stronger for individuals with low forgiveness dispositions than for individuals with high forgiveness dispositions. We recruited 995 undergraduates aged 18–20 years from three different universities in China to participate in the current study. Participants completed measures of being phubbed, self-esteem, depression, and dispositional forgiveness. The results revealed that self-esteem mediated the relationship between being phubbed and depression. Additionally, dispositional forgiveness moderated the indirect effect of being phubbed on depression through self-esteem. Unlike what was predicted, the indirect effect of being phubbed on depression was stronger for high forgiveness individuals than for low forgiveness individuals. This unanticipated orientation and other results are discussed.