Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Associations Among Children's Interpersonal Trust, Reputation for Trustworthiness, and Relationship Closeness

Interpersonal trust plays a crucial role in the formation and maintenance of social relationships. The present cross-sectional and longitudinal research examines the development of interpersonal trust judgments with reference to (1) the trustee's reputation for trustworthiness, and (2) the nature of the trustor's relationship closeness with the trustee. There were 194 7- to 13-year-olds who participated in the first wave of the study, and 107 of those individuals also participated in two subsequent waves across a 2-year period. Both cross-sectional and longitudinal results showed that with age, reputation for trustworthiness becomes less important and relationship closeness become more important. We also found that relationship closeness played a greater role in interpersonal trust evaluations for girls than for boys. These findings indicate that the way children make trust evaluations becomes increasingly relationship-specific over time and is more relationship-specific for girls than for boys.

The relation between young adults' trust beliefs in others and interpersonal hostility

The research examined whether, and if so how, young adults' trust beliefs in others were associated with interpersonal hostility. The participants in Study 1 were 139 young adults from the UK (76 women; Mage = 20.8). In Study 2, 88 young adult women from the UK (Mage = 21.5) served as participants. The participants completed a standardized measure of trust beliefs in others (total with reliability, honesty, and emotional subscales). In Study 1, participants imagined they were victims of peer provocation. They were required to judge the intention for the provocation and their retaliation to it. In Study 2, the participants were engaged in a lab-based acquaintanceship interaction that involved the exchange of disclosures. They completed an adjective checklist that assessed anger and evaluated the quality of the conversation. Trust beliefs were linearly and negatively associated with the attribution of hostile intentions, retaliation, anger toward others, and critical evaluation of a developing peer relationship. As expected though, quadratic relations were found. Young adults with very low and those with very high trust beliefs (primarily emotionally based) showed greater attribution of hostile intentions, retaliation, anger toward others, and critical evaluation of a developing peer relationship than did young adults with the middle range of trust beliefs. The linear relations supported the hypothesis that trust promotes psychosocial adjustment. The quadratic relations supported the deviation from the normative trust (centralist) approach primarily for emotional trust beliefs in others.

The Relationship between Social Anxiety, Smartphone Use, Dispositional Trust, and Problematic Smartphone Use: A Moderated Mediation Model

BACKGROUND

The pervasiveness of smartphones has raised concerns about an increase in the prevalence of problematic smartphone use (PSU), which depends on a set of psychological and behavioral risk factors. Previous research has yielded mixed results on factors predicting PSU, including social anxiety and trust. In particular, the role of trust remained largely unexplored. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the relationship between social anxiety and PSU, via the mediating role of time spent on the phone, and to explore the moderating role of dispositional trust toward others, by using a moderated mediation model with PSU as the outcome.

METHODS

A total of 240 young adults (M_age = 23.33, SD = 3.90, 50% male) answered an online questionnaire, which included the 12-item Social Anxiety Scale, a question on the daily duration of smartphone use, a single-item measure of dispositional trust, and the 10-item Smartphone Addiction Scale Short Version. Gender and occupational status were included as covariates.

RESULTS

Social anxiety was significantly and positively related to PSU; however, smartphone use did not mediate this relationship. Although the relationship between smartphone use and PSU was significant and positive, the link between social anxiety and smartphone use was not. Dispositional trust moderated and strengthened the direct relationships between social anxiety and PSU as well as smartphone use and PSU.

CONCLUSIONS

Heavy smartphone users as well as socially anxious individuals, with the tendency of trusting others, are more at risk of PSU, which can be explained by their preference and search for online connections.

Maternal Distress/Coping and Children's Adaptive Behaviors During the COVID-19 Lockdown: Mediation Through Children's Emotional Experience

The present study focused on the psychological impact that the lockdown due to coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) had on families in Italy. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Italian government imposed a strict lockdown for all citizens. People were forced to stay at home, and the length of the lockdown was uncertain. Previous studies analyzed the impact of social distance measures on individuals' mental health, whereas few studies have examined the interplay between the adults' functioning, as parents, during this period and the association with the child's adjustment. The present study tested if maternal distress/coping predicts children's behaviors during the COVID-19 lockdown, hypothesizing a mediation effect via children's emotional experience. Participants were 144 mothers (M age = 39.3, 25-52, SD = 5.6) with children aged 5-10 years (M age = 7.54, SD = 1.6, 82 boys); mothers answered to an online survey. Results indicated that mothers with higher exposure to COVID-19 showed higher levels of distress and higher display of coping attitudes, even if in the structural equation modeling model, the COVID-19 exposure was not a predictor of mothers' distress. Compared with mothers with good coping skills, mothers with higher stress levels were more likely to attribute negative emotions to their children at the expense of their positive emotions. Moreover, children's emotions acted as mediators between maternal distress/coping and children's adaptive/maladaptive behaviors. In conclusion, it is important to support parents during pandemic emergence, by providing them with adequate information to manage the relationship with their children, to reduce their level of distress and to enhance their coping abilities.

Interpersonal trust in doctor-patient relation: Evidence from dyadic analysis and association with quality of dyadic communication

RATIONALE

Although they form a dyadic relationship, doctor's and patient's levels of trust in the other have usually been investigated separately. As members of dyadic relationships, they influence each other's behaviors and are interdependent because they share a past history and eventually a common future.

OBJECTIVES

The aim of this paper was to examine the composition of trust in doctor-patients relationship and estimate its association with quality of doctor's communication. One-With-Many analyses (OWM) were used to examine the composition of trust variance into "doctor and patient effects", "relationship effects", and "reciprocity effects," taking into account the interdependence of the data.

METHOD

Twelve General Practitioners (GPs; Mage = 54.16, SD = 12.28, 8 men) and 189 of their patients (Mage = 47.48, SD = 9.88, 62% women) took part in the study. GPs and their patients completed postconsultation questionnaires on trust and quality of communication.

RESULTS

The findings revealed that "doctor" and "patient" effects were significant. However, the most important part of the variance was attributable to the relationship and reciprocity effects, meaning that if a doctor reported high trust in a particular patient, then the patient reported a similarly high level of trust. Higher quality of communication was positively associated to those relationship effects of trust.

CONCLUSIONS

Our study stresses the importance to investigate trust in doctor-patients relationship as a dyadic and interdependent phenomenon applying appropriate methodological design and analysis. Convergence between doctor's and patients' perceptions of their relationship may enhance trust more than conventional intervention and may ultimately contribute to better health outcomes.

Children’s trust and the development of prosocial behavior

This study examined the role of children’s trust beliefs and trustworthiness in the development of prosocial behavior using data from four waves of a longitudinal study in a large, ethnically-diverse sample of children in Switzerland (mean age = 8.11 years at Time 1, N = 1,028). Prosocial behavior directed towards peers was measured at all assessment points by teacher reports. Children’s trust beliefs and their trustworthiness with peers were assessed and calculated by a social relations analysis at the first assessment point using children’s reports of the extent to which classmates kept promises. In addition, teacher reports of children’s trustworthiness were assessed at all four assessment points. Latent growth curve modeling yielded a decrease in prosocial behavior over time. Peer- and teacher-reported trustworthiness predicted higher initial levels of prosocial behavior, and peer-reported trustworthiness predicted less steep decreases in prosocial behavior over time. Autoregressive cross-lagged analysis also revealed bidirectional longitudinal associations between teacher-reported trustworthiness and prosocial behavior. We discuss the implications of the findings for research on the role of trust in the development of children’s prosocial behavior.

Social and cognitive factors associated with children's secret-keeping for a parent

This study examined children's secret-keeping for a parent and its relation to trust, theory of mind, secrecy endorsement, and executive functioning (EF). Children (N = 107) between 4 and 12 years of age participated in a procedure wherein parents broke a toy and asked children to promise secrecy. Responses to open-ended and direct questions were examined. Overall, secret-keeping increased with age and promising to keep the secret was related to fewer disclosures in open-ended questioning. Children who kept the secret in direct questioning exhibited greater trust and better parental ratings of EF than children who disclosed the secret. Findings highlight the importance of both social and cognitive factors in secret-keeping development.