An English-language adaptation of the Interpersonal Trust Short Scale (KUSIV3)

Désirée Nießen,Clemens M Lechner,Constanze Beierlein,Beatrice Rammstedt

doi:10.1186/s42409-020-00016-1

Abstract

The Interpersonal Trust Short Scale—the English-language adaptation of the Kurzskala Interpersonelles Vertrauen (KUSIV3)—measures interpersonal trust as a psychological disposition with just three items (completion time ~ 30 s). The items of the German-language source version were translated into English using the TRAPD approach. Our empirical validation based on a heterogeneous quota sample in the UK shows that all the reliability coefficients of the English-language adaptation and its correlations with external variables are satisfactory and comparable to those of the German-language source version. Moreover, the results of measurement invariance testing suggest that metric measurement invariance of the scale holds when comparing the UK and Germany, implying the comparability of correlations based on the latent factors across the two nations. As an ultra-short scale, KUSIV3 lends itself to the assessment of interpersonal trust particularly in survey contexts in which assessment time or questionnaire space are limited. It is applicable in a variety of research disciplines, including psychology, sociology, and economics.

Highlights

Interpersonal trust is highly relevant in people’s everyday lives and in contemporary society as a whole
Because no comparable ultra-short scale for the measurement of interpersonal trust exists for the English-language context, we adapted Interpersonal Trust Short Scale/Kurzskala Interpersonelles Vertrauen (KUSIV3) to English and thoroughly investigated its psychometric properties of the English-language version using a sample from the United Kingdom (UK)
Our results—based on two comprehensive samples representing the heterogeneity of the adult populations in the UK and Germany—reveal, first, that the English-language version of KUSIV3 is a reliable, valid, and useful instrument for measuring interpersonal trust

Summary

Introduction

Interpersonal trust is highly relevant in people’s everyday lives and in contemporary society as a whole. Studies investigating the functioning of social interactions between single individuals need a valid and—especially in research settings with severe time limitations— efficient measure of interpersonal trust. Motivated by this need, Beierlein, Kemper, Kovaleva, and Rammstedt (2014a) developed an ultra-short—three-item—Germanlanguage measure of interpersonal trust, the Interpersonal Trust Short Scale (German: Kurzskala Interpersonelles Vertrauen; KUSIV3). Since the 1980s, the prerequisites and consequences of trust have been the subject of mounting interest among researchers in the fields of social psychology, political sciences, sociology, economics, and communication studies. Depending on the research focus, the concept may refer either to the trust placed in others (i.e., interpersonal, which is sometimes called “social trust”), the trust placed in political institutions, officials, or the political system as a whole (i.e., political or institutional trust), or both

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