General Social Trust Research Articles

Episodic mistrust and selective system trust: Insights from Chinese alternative food networks

This article contributes to comparative anthropological theory by analyzing the conceptual dynamics of episodic mistrust and selective system trust that emerge from ethnographic cases. Following the cue from recent studies that cast mistrust as a productive category in its own right, we explore this idea in the context of a complex modern society suffering from recurrent food safety scandals. We study how people in China allay anxieties about the food they and their dependents eat. In our cases, mistrust has no anchoring in an ideology of opacity and yet is shown to be highly socially productive as people deploy, anticipate and attempt to alleviate mistrusting attitudes. While constant mistrust may give rise to ambitions of total surveillance and control, the ethnography illustrates the benefits of episodic mistrust for actors when attempting to establish confidence in both personal relations and systems. The cases reveal the existence of selective trust in particular systems, which differs both from trust in direct personal relations and from social trust as measured in surveys. The article concludes that system trust must be qualified and conceptually disentangled from a general social trust, as selective trust in exclusive systems may allay anxieties exactly because it insulates the actor from involvement in more comprehensive systems that are seen as overly risky.

Social trust and subjective well-being of first-generation college students in China: the multiple mediation effects of self-compassion and social empathy.

Previous studies have found that subjective well-being is associated with social trust, self-compassion, and social empathy. Based on online fieldwork with 662 first-generation college students (54.7% male) in China, this study aimed to investigate the serial mediation effects of self-compassion and social empathy on the relationship between social trust and subjective well-being. The results showed that subjective well-being was significantly positively correlated with social trust, trust in people, self-compassion, and social empathy. Both self-compassion and social empathy partially mediated the relationship between social trust and subjective well-being, and fully mediated the association between trust in people and subjective well-being. We used a serial mediation model to estimate the effect of general social trust, including trust in people, on subjective well-being. The findings that self-compassion and social empathy mediated the relationship between trusting attitudes toward society, especially people, and subjective well-being expand the literature on social trust and the mechanism of social trust on subjective well-being. The results also highlight the significance of improving mental health education and intervention among first-generation college students in China.

Social trust and affective polarization in Spain (2014–19)

One overlooked aspect of the rising levels of affective polarization is its effect on general social trust. In the present article, we analyze the relationship between affective polarization and various measures of social trust using two separate panel surveys that were implemented in Spain in two different political periods (2014–2015 and 2018–2019), in order to assess whether the individual variations in the levels of affective polarization may affect people's trust in other members of society. Our findings suggest that affective polarization towards out-party members has a mutually reinforcing negative relationship with general social trust, generating a pervasive equilibrium of social and political deterioration that might contribute to worsening democratic quality. This effect is not compensated by any significant bonding effect resulting from in-partisan identification, whose effects seem to be restricted just to the very closest inner-circle individuals.

Social capital and the COVID-19 pandemic threat: The Russian experience.

Social capital is an important resource for the wellbeing of both the individual and society. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, many studies have been conducted to explore the role of social capital in coping with the negative consequences of the pandemic. However, how the pandemic itself can affect the social capital of people has yet to be studied. Try to fill this gap, we aimed at testing the association between the individually perceived coronavirus threat and such indicators of social capital as general social trust, institutional trust, and the quality of various types of people's social relationships (with family, friends, colleagues, neighbors, residents of a locality, residents of a country). Data were collected in different regions of the Russian Federation for a convenience sample of 500 respondents. The study found that the individually perceived coronavirus threat was positively associated with institutional trust, but not with general social trust. Moreover, this covariation was moderated by age: an institutional trust-threat relation emerged only in older respondents with an average age of around 60, but not in younger participants. Furthermore, the study found that perceived coronavirus threat was associated with closer relationships in the family, but simultaneously with an increased distance in relations with neighbors and residents of the respondents' locality. In summary, the study indicated that "strong" ties (i.e., with family, colleagues, and friends) either remained unchanged or were intensified in the face of the pandemic threat, whereas "weak" ties (i.e., with neighbors, residents of the same locality, and fellow citizens) tended to weaken even more.

DEVELOPMENT AND INITIAL VALIDATION OF THE SECOND VERSION OF THE MULTIDIMENSIONAL SOCIAL CAPITAL SCALE (MSCS V2)

This article describes the development and initial validation of the second version of the Multidimensional Social Capital Scale (MSCS V2). The scale is based on the concept of Social Capital (SC) developed based on the results of the Rapid Review. The developed theoretical concept covers such types of SC as bonding, bridging, and linking, and there are two dimensions in each of these types: cognitive and structural. The initial version of the Multidimensional Social Capital Scale (MSCS) covered only the cognitive dimension of all three types of SC. This study aimed to develop an improved second expanded version of the MSCS V2 and to evaluate its psychometric properties. Data were collected online in the period from 11th June to 3rd October 2021, using a cross-sectional study design and a convenience sample strategy (N=353, 87% women and 13% men), aged between 18 and 80 years, M=41.8 years). As a result, the 25-item version of the MSCS V2 was developed. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) revealed a 6-factor structure that encompasses the following types and elements of cognitive dimension: two types of bonding (Perceived social support or family members and close friends and Sense of belonging), two types of bridging (Perceived social support for acquaintances and General social trust), one type of linking (Institutional trust) and for Structural dimension: one type of bonding (Social participation). This 6-factor structure was approved using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Overall, the items are internally consistent on all scales (α = .73 - .90). Findings from this study showed significant evidence for the reliability and validity of the MSCS V2 and it would be advisable to repeat the study in a homogeneous sample, including full socio-demographic data.

The Influence of Perception of Social Equality and Social Trust on Subjective Well-Being Among Rural Chinese People: The Moderator Role of Education.

The present study explored the moderation effect of education on the relationship between the perception of social equality and social trust and individuals’ subjective well-being (SWB) in rural China. Data were derived from the nationally representative cross-sectional Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS). After handling missingness, 5,911 eligible participants (age 18 years or older) from the 2015 wave were included in the model. We used logistic regression to test the hypotheses. We first tested the effect of the perception of social equality and social trust on SWB. Then we added an interaction term to test the moderation effect of education in this relationship. The results show that education had a significant moderating effect on the association between general social trust and SWB. While had no significant effect on the association between the perception of social equality, special social trust and SWB. The perception of social equality had significant effects in both groups. The relationship between special social trust and SWB in both groups was not significant. For the more educated group, general social trust had a significant and positive effect on SWB.

一般社会信任与微表情识别准确率之间的关系

一般社会信任与微表情识别准确率之间的关系

An Association Between Montessori Education in Childhood and Adult Wellbeing.

Wellbeing, or how people think and feel about their lives, predicts important life outcomes from happiness to health to longevity. Montessori pedagogy has features that enhance wellbeing contemporaneously and predictively, including self-determination, meaningful activities, and social stability. Here, 1905 adults, ages 18–81 (M = 36), filled out a large set of wellbeing scales followed by demographic information including type of school attended each year from 2 to 17. About half the sample had only attended conventional schools and the rest had attended Montessori for between 2 and 16 years (M = 8 years). To reduce the variable set, we first developed a measurement model of wellbeing using the survey data with exploratory then confirmatory factor analyses, arriving at four factors: general wellbeing, engagement, social trust, and self-confidence. A structural equation model that accounted for age, gender, race, childhood SES, and years in private school revealed that attending Montessori for at least two childhood years was associated with significantly higher adult wellbeing on all four factors. A second analysis found that the difference in wellbeing between Montessori and conventional schools existed even among the subsample that had exclusively attended private schools. A third analysis found that the more years one attended Montessori, the higher one’s wellbeing as an adult. Unmeasured selection effects could explain the results, in which case research should determine what third variable associated with Montessori schooling causes adult wellbeing. Several other limitations to the study are also discussed. Although some of these limitations need to be addressed, coupled with other research, including studies in which children were randomly assigned to Montessori schools, this study suggests that attending Montessori as a child might plausibly cause higher adult wellbeing.

Terror threats and civil liberties: when do citizens accept infringements of civil liberties?

Threats from subversive or threatening enemies are sometimes invoked by governments to justify infringements of civil liberties. The present article is concerned with the factors likely to affect citizen acceptance of such infringements as legitimate and necessary. A survey was conducted to evaluate the disposition of respondents to the relative prioritisation of security over civil liberties. The results indicate that even in a rather secure setting, where threats from terror can be considered relatively distant, citizens have a disposition towards prioritising security, although this depends on the degree of anxiety, political trust and general social trust. Anxiety leads to greater willingness to accept infringements, as does trust in government while general social trust leads to smaller receptiveness in this respect.

The Impact of Trust and Risk Perception on the Acceptance of Measures to Reduce COVID-19 Cases.

The SARS‐CoV‐2 virus that causes COVID‐19 has had a large impact on the lives of many people worldwide. At the peak of confirmed COVID‐19 cases during the first wave in Switzerland (March–April 2020), we conducted a survey in the German‐speaking part of the country (N = 1,585). The results suggest that the implemented measures are accepted. The survey participants are more concerned that other family members could catch the virus compared with themselves, and they are worried about its economic impact. The results suggest that how trust is measured is crucial because general trust and social trust have opposite effects on the participants’ risk perceptions. People with high general trust perceive less risks associated with COVID‐19 compared with people who have low general trust, and people with high social trust perceive more risks compared with people who have low social trust. The results further indicate that perceived risks are important drivers for the acceptance of the government's implemented measures to control COVID‐19 and for more precautionary behavior (i.e., contact with fewer people and more hygienic behavior). Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

Digital detox of the youth (on the example of social networks)

The article considers practices of using virtual social networks and attitudes of the student and working youth to the digital detox under the influence of objective and subjective factors (age, social status, competitiveness, social trust). The research was conducted with the survey of students (high school, vocational and higher education) and working youth in the Tyumen Region. The sample consisted of 10th-11th grade students (N=1130), university students (N=1097) and working youth (N=942). The results show that the main purpose of using social networks is to get new information (81%), entertaining video- and audio-content (72%); only 32% of students satisfy their educational needs. When getting older, the intensity of the youths search for identity decreases together with the desire to keep ones social status in the virtual reality. The high school students show the highest level of readiness for digital detox for a short period (84%), the long-term detox is more typical for the working youth (32% vs. a quarter in two other groups). The lower the level of the general social trust, the easier respondents choose digital detox from social networks. The results of the survey prove the following trend in using virtual social networks: those who accept a day detox are rarely ready for a month detox; those who accept a week detox from virtual communication consider it quite realistic to extend it to a month.

Similarities and Differences in Health, Social Trust, and Financial Situation in People With Usher Syndrome, a Bio-Psychosocial Perspective.

PurposeThe primary aim was to describe the similarities and differences among the general health, physical health, psychological health, social trust, and financial situations of people with Usher syndrome (USH) types 1, 2, and 3. A second aim was to explore whether age, gender, clinical diagnosis, visual field, visual acuity, and degree of hearing impairment were associated with the general health, physical health, psychological health, social trust, and financial situations of people with USH.MethodsIn this study, 162 people with USH living in Sweden were included, and all three types of the disease were represented. Data concerning vision, hearing, and genetics were retrieved from the Swedish Usher database. Group comparison using frequencies, χ2-tests and Kruskal-Wallis tests for group comparison were used. To examine the effect of independent variables on poor health outcomes, a logistic regression analysis was conducted.ResultsProblems with poor health, social trust, and finances were found for all three types; however, more similarities than differences were found. The results of the regression model were ambiguous; it is not clear which independent measures contributed the most to poor outcomes. People with USH3 tended to report the most problems regarding the dependent outcome measures.ConclusionThe observations of the associations between the independent variables and poor health, social trust and finances made in the present study are important to bear in mind in a rehabilitation setting; however, they do not fully explain how people with USH actually feel or rate their health. More research is needed to confirm the knowledge that exists within the clinical setting and the life stories told by the people with USH to merge existing knowledge into a rehabilitation setting based on evidence.

Obtaining transit information from users of a collaborative transit app: Platform-based and individual-related motivators

The traditional practice of transit information provision considers operators as active communicators of information, while transit users are considered as passive, only receiving information. Encouraging reciprocity and active involvement of users by enabling them to share information may increase transit information quality and ridership. Nowadays, active user participation is starting to take shape with the development of new apps with commercial market potential. This study focuses on willingness to share travel information as part of daily routine transit app use. The applied behavioral framework is the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology adapted to the context of information sharing. The empirical analysis consists of estimating a structural equation model on a data set including 1,369 people from Innsbruck and Copenhagen as cities differing in size and general social trust. The results show that the most important motivational factors for information sharing are pro-sharing social norms and self-actualization weighted against effort expectancy, which is more closely related to the logistic effort of using the platform than to network familiarity. Trust in the information provided and social network engagement are secondary motivational factors, with perceived information quality and need of communication being less influential. Greater transit use and interest in level-of-service and real-time information are correlated with greater information sharing motivation. Women and generation Z had higher motivation for information sharing as well as people who reside in Denmark, a country with high social trust.

Informality, Micro and Small Enterprises, and the 2016 Demonetisation Policy in India

Using a panel dataset collected in 2014–2017, we examine small and micro entrepreneurs in Delhi, India, distinguishing registered (more formal) and unregistered (more informal) enterprises. The dataset contains not only information on the characteristics of entrepreneurs and firms, but also General Social Survey trust information. Quantitative analysis comparing the two types of entrepreneurs reveals that their social backgrounds and trust were different, and that the difference is correlated with firm performance. In the micro and small enterprise sector in Delhi, registered and unregistered firms coexist with different kinds of superiority, but the business transactions of both types of firms remain highly cash‐dependent even after the 2016 Demonetisation shock.

Social Networks and Charitable Giving: Trusting, Doing, Asking, and Alter Primacy

This study examines social networks and financial giving to charitable or religious causes. Conventional social capital measures of general social trust and size of social network are studied as predictors of charitable giving. To these traditional measures, we add an examination of particular network aspects of giving: ego giving in relation to network alters who give, solicitations to give by network ties, and ego soliciting alters to give. In addition, the study disaggregates alter effects by alter position. Findings indicate that, net of social trust, social network factors significantly predict likelihood of being a giver. In particular, findings are that egos are especially likely to be donors when their primary alter donates. Three configurations of ego–alter giving and solicitations are significant predictors of ego giving, indicating that ego–alter doing matters more than asking. Theoretical contributions for relational and prosocial studies are discussed, as are practical implications for fundraising professionals.

Socialinio pasitikėjimo svarba Lietuvoje bei emigracijoje gyvenančių žmonių gerovei

It is known that person's well-being is related to various micro and macro social factors that can influence individual's decision to move or stay in his/her place of residence. General social trust and trust in social system might be important predictors of differences in well-being of emigrants and residents of the origin country. The aim of the study was to evaluate the importance of several social trust indicators for well-being of Lithuanians and Lithuanian emigrants. 1209 (20 % male) Lithuanians participated in the cross-sectional online survey. 52.2 % of them were Lithuanian emigrants, 47.8 % – were residents of Lithuania. Mental health continuum questionnaire was used for the evaluation of well-being; 12 questions based on European Social Survey were used to measure general social trust and trust in particular elements of the social system (e.g. trust in medical services, police). The results have shown that controlling various demographical variables Lithuanian emigrants have higher level of psychological, social and emotional well-being, as though as higher trust in various social institutions, but general trust in people is higher in the group of Lithuanian residents. Higher general well-being as though as higher psychological, social and emotional well-being of the participants is related to higher trust in social institutions, but not general trust in people, taking in control various demographical variables and the fact of emigration. Study confirms the importance of trust in various social institutions for the evaluation of well-being of the residents and highlights the importance of credibility of state agencies.

Confianza Institucional y Social: Una Relación Insoslayable

The institutions are responsible to promote, regulate and guarantee the coordinated social action among citizens. For decades the institutional trust has been declining. This creates a major problem because institutional trust is necessary for the institutions development. Among the negative consequences that it brings, it is found that the low institutional trust is associated with low general social trust. Because of that, people feel insecure in their relationships with others and have pessimistic thoughts about the reliability of strangers, which affects social cohesion, cooperation, collective connection and tolerance between citizens, among other things. The aim of this paper is to analyze the relationship between social trust and institutional confidence in the Argentinean context, confidence levels, and the relationship between institutional trust and effectiveness. For these purposes, a self- administered questionnaire was designed and applied to 316 college students from four public and private universities in the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, Argentina. The results indicate that participants have a low institutional and general social trust, there is a relationship between institutional trust and general social trust, and finally, that institutional confidence is influenced by the perception of institutions effectiveness. Despite this rather optimistic scenario, these results may help to identify the areas to start working out the problems of low levels of institutional and social trust. If the social confidence of Argentineans is greater than institutional trust, it should be strengthened these social ties as it will allow to improve social cohesion and participation, and believe that working together can improve and change the proper functioning of institutions. From this point, It is possible gradually increase the number of people as social networks. Also, as results shows from this research and previous ones, the Education in Argentina is an institution in which you trust, and it would be feasible to start and/or strengthen the process of change in educative centers. Although it is not an easy task, it is necessary for society to live better and more equitably.

Impact of Perceptions apropos Economic Growth

The Asian economy has been continuously growing since the beginning of the 21st century. Asian countries are starting to carve their names in the A-list of the growing world economy. Considering the stability of its excellent performance in a continual growth, the researchers endeavored to find out whether what a country’s economic growth is reflected in the level of satisfaction of its citizens.Using exploratory data analysis, indices pertinent relating to general perception, social trust, security, government performance, and professional relations were calculated. Results showed that countries which are generally perceived to be not doing well in terms of economy seem to exhibit a higher level of satisfaction from its citizens.

From the general to the specific: How social trust motivates relational trust

When people form beliefs about the trustworthiness of others with respect to particular matters (i.e., when individuals trust), theory suggests that they rely on preexistent cognitive schemas regarding the general cooperativeness of individuals and organizations (i.e., social trust). In spite of prior work, the impact of social trust on relational trust—or what Russell Hardin (2002) calls trust as a three-part relation where actor A trusts actor B with reference to matter Y—is not well established. Four vignette experiments were administered to Amazon.com Mechanical Turk workers (N = 1388 and N = 1419) and to public university undergraduate students (N = 995 and N = 956) in order to investigate the relationship between social trust and relational trust. Measures of general social trust and particular social trust produced statistically equivalent effects that were positively associated with relational trust. Political trust, however, was statistically unrelated to relational trust. These results support the idea that people rely on schemas and stereotypes concerned with the general cooperativeness and helpfulness of others when forming beliefs about another person's trustworthiness with respect to a particular matter at hand.

Trust in others: does it affect investment decisions?

In recent years, we have witnessed a fundamental change in the way laypeople approach economic issues—from a complete reliance on the financial system as the major source of investment wisdom to self-reliance and self-investments. The current paper examines how personality traits affect novice investors’ decisions regarding the scope and amount of risk they take when making investments. The results indicate that general subjective risk attitudes and social trust influence investment patterns, but not in the same manner. While risk and trust influence the individual’s willingness to take financial risks and invest in risky instruments, trust also affects investment diversification. In contrast to former studies, in this paper we define the term “trust” using two separate measurements—trust in the world versus self-trust. We made this differentiation by applying Schwartz’s value model. We found that subjects who had faith in others took more financial risks, tending to concentrate their funds in these instruments. The opposite pattern was revealed in the behavior of self-trusting investors. These subjects not only invested in less risky instruments, they also divided their capital among several assets. The results suggest that psychological traits influence investment patterns in different manners, which requires a closer examination.