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. 2021 Oct 1:12:634540.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.634540. eCollection 2021.

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

Qinggong Li  1 , Zhuocheng Li  1 , Wenyu Zhang  1 , Yang Wang  1 , Gail D Heyman  2
Affiliations

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

Qinggong Li et al. Front Psychol. .

Abstract

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.

Keywords: children; interpersonal trust; personal relationship; social reputation; socialization.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
A simple slops analysis of the effect of relationship on children’s trust.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
A simple slopes analysis of the effect of reputation on children’s trust.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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