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Most Americans think that the country is politically divided and polarization will only get worse, not better. Such perceptions of polarization are widespread, but we do not know enough about their effects, especially those unrelated to political variables. This study examines the consequences of perceived polarization for levels of social trust in the United States. Trust in fellow citizens is the backbone of a well-functioning democracy, given its role in promoting social cohesion and facilitating collective action. Using nationally representative panel data, as well as an original survey experiment, I find that perceived polarization directly undermines Americans' trust in each other. A belief that members of society share common values fosters social trust, but perceptions of partisan divisions and polarization make people less trusting of their fellow citizens. Due to perceived polarization, people are less likely to believe that others can be trusted to do the right thing, which in turn decreases their willingness to cooperate for good causes. I discuss the implications of these findings for society's ability to work together toward common goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conspiracy beliefs have negative effects on decision making in several life areas including health, ethical, political and environmental domains. But their influence on financial decisions is not known. The current study examines the mediational role of social trust in the relationship between non‐financial conspiracy beliefs and stock market participation. First, exploratory findings provide preliminary cross‐country evidence that conspiracy beliefs are associated with lower stock market participation. Next, three studies from close to 53,000 United States respondents show that conspiracy beliefs predict 8%–20% decrease in the odds of investing in stocks even after adjusting for several determinants of stock ownership including income, life satisfaction, cognitive ability and economic attitudes. Mediation analyses shows that conspiracy beliefs predict lower social trust, which in turn predicts lower stock ownership. Overall, the findings imply that endorsing misleading non‐financial beliefs about the causes of socio‐cultural events may potential impede financial decision making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Many trans women of color communities experience high HIV seroprevalence, extreme poverty, high rates of victimization and substance use, and poor mental health. Greater knowledge of trans women of color social capital may contribute toward more effective services for this marginalized population. Methods: These data come from a mixed-methods study that examined trans/gender-variant people of color who attended transgender support groups at harm reduction programs in NYC. The study was conducted from 2011 to 12, total N = 34. The qualitative portion was derived from six focus group interviews. Results: Two support groups stood out as exhibiting very strong alternative kinship structures. One group was comprised of immigrant trans Latinas, and the other group were trans women of African descent living with HIV. Both groups demonstrated ample cultivation of "trust capital" in the form of "thick trust" (bonding capital) and "thin trust" (bridging/linking capital) both inside and outside/beyond the support groups. Thick trust included the cultivation of intimacy, support in primary romantic relationships, and community leadership. Thin trust included networking with a variety of organizations, increased educational opportunities, and cultural production. Discussion: Participants "opened up to social capital" through the process of trusting as a series of (1) risks; (2) vulnerabilities; and (3) reciprocities. A solid foundation of thick trust resulted in a social, psychological, and emotional "base." Upon this foundation, thin trust was operationalized resulting in positive material, economic, and quality-of-life outcomes, leading to an expanded space of capabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The United States has lost many lives to COVID-19. The role of social capital and collective action has been previously explored in the context of COVID-19. The current study specifically investigates the role of social trust at the county level and COVID-19 mortality in the US, hypothesizing that counties with higher social trust will have lower COVID-19 mortality rates., Methods: We used cross-sectional data from the General Social Survey (GSS). We collected COVID-19 mortality data from the COVID-19 Dashboard by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University until October 31, 2021. We obtained county characteristics from the 2019 American Community Survey and supplemented this data source with additional publicly available county-level data, such as measures of income inequality and political leanings. We measured social trust as a single item from the GSS and calculated mean social trust in a county by pooling responses from 2002 to 2018. We then modeled the relationship between mean social trust and COVID-19 mortality., Results: Results indicate that counties with higher social trust have lower COVID-19 mortality rates. Higher values of mean social trust at the county level are associated with a decrease in COVID-19 mortality (b= -0.25, p-value < 0.001), after adjustment for confounding. The direction of association is consistent in a sensitivity analysis., Conclusions: Our findings underscore the importance of investment in social capital and social trust. We believe these findings can be applied beyond the COVID-19 pandemic, as they demonstrate the potential for social trust as a method for emergency preparedness., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Purpose: This study aimed to examine neighborhood effects on the physical and socioemotional health of children from immigrant families, after controlling for parents' demographic characteristics, socioeconomic status, acculturation, and health care issues. Design: Pooled cross-sectional data were merged with community profiles. Setting: The United States in 2013, 2014, and 2015. Participants: 10,399 children from immigrant families in the 2013-2015 National Health Interview Surveys and the U.S. Census Data. Measures: Both objective and subjective measures of neighborhood environments were assessed, including neighborhood physical disorder, socioeconomic status, demographic composition, community resources, and social trust. Analysis: Descriptive statistics, logistic regression models. Results: About half of the sampled children were male (51%); 68% were white; 56% were of Hispanic; and 34% were school-aged. Three neighborhood factors—neighborhood trust, area-level poverty rate, and the presence of primary care physician—were identified as significant predictors for child health outcomes. Foreign-born population, green space, and food desert were not significant. At the individual level, parents' racial and ethnic minority status, non-marital status, and healthcare issues were found to be risk factors. Families' financial resources and parental education were identified as protective factors of socioemotional health. Conclusion: Intervention approaches to build on neighborhood trust may have broad potential to improve child outcomes. Programs focusing on immigrant families with children in high poverty neighborhoods should be a high priority. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This study examines whether the values prevalent in one's social environment moderate the link between immigration-related ethnic diversity and social trust. Drawing on arguments related to intergroup relations and anomie, we expect that contexts characterized by a comparatively high degree of openness mitigate a trust-eroding effect of immigration. In contrast, we expect that contexts of low openness or high conservation may reinforce a trust-eroding effect. We test these propositions using survey data from Europe and the United States merged with regional indicators on immigration and value contexts. The results show that high levels of contextual openness attenuate trust-eroding consequences of immigration growth. With regard to mechanisms, we find that contextual openness moderates how change in immigration relates to generalized forms of trust rather than outgroup trust. This points to an overall anomie-reducing function of openness norms, especially in times of ethnic change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Does income inequality reduce social trust? Although both popular and scholarly accounts have argued that income inequality reduces trust, some recent research has been more skeptical, noting these claims are more robust cross-sectionally than longitudinally. Furthermore, although multiple mechanisms have been proposed for why inequality could affect trust, these have rarely been tested explicitly. I examine the effect of state-level income inequality on trust using the 1973–2012 General Social Surveys. I find little evidence that states that have been more unequal over time have less trusting people. There is some evidence that the growth in income inequality is linked with a decrease in trust, but these effects are sensitive to how time is accounted for. While much previous inequality and trust research has focused on status anxiety, this mechanism receives the little support, but mechanisms based on social fractionalization and on exploitation and resentment receive some support. This analysis improves on previous estimates of the effect of state-level inequality on trust by using far more available observations, accounting for more potential individual and state level confounders, and using higher-quality income inequality data based on annual IRS tax returns. It also contributes to our understanding of the mechanism(s) through which inequality may affect trust. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines cultivation effects of Chinese and U.S. TV content on Chinese college students. It surveyed 112 students from a university in Beijing about their weekly viewing hours of Chinese TV, including China Central Television (CCTV), and U.S.-made TV programming. Participants also reported their perceived prevalence of crime in China and the United States and their estimation of helpfulness, trustworthiness, and fairness of Chinese and American people. Findings revealed that American TV content seems to have a much bigger cultivation effect than Chinese TV programming. CCTV viewing was associated with perceptions that people in China are helpful. Viewing of U.S. programming was associated with heightened perceptions of crime in both China and the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social trust ameliorates collective action problems by allowing multicultural societies to adopt more inclusive and equitable public policies directed toward newly arriving immigrants. However, existing research warns that increasing ethnic diversity from immigrant populations can undermine levels of social trust, hindering mass support for redistributive policies that empower low-income minority populations. This article examines the relationship between U.S. state-level social trust and immigrant access to social welfare programs using multilevel regression with post-stratification to estimate state-level attitudes of distrust. Distrust is found to be associated with reduced immigrant access to redistributive social programs, such as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, Supplemental Security Income, and Medicaid. Interestingly, patterns of distrust and strict immigrant welfare exclusion are more pronounced among low immigrant Southern states, while high immigrant states exhibit relatively inclusive and accommodative policies. Related Articles [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Civil Rights movement was a demonstration of civic-political participation promoting relationships within and across social groups in America. What Americans inherited from the Civil Rights era were laws, practices, and policies that strengthen social ties among citizens. Our inheritance was significantly enriched by the civic values that emerged from this era. In this study, a sample of 55 participants was assigned to focus groups to discuss the civic values of the Civil Rights era. The qualitative responses illustrate that trust and our political voices are very important and identify issues with power and an ability to move freely through society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most modern welfare states offer an extensive array of services and benefits that are wholly or partly financed by tax revenue. One missing link in explaining the long-run sustainability of such comprehensive welfare states could be the already-existing stock of trust. Indeed, our cross-country results suggest that trust determines the size of welfare states as well as three features that are arguably necessary for their preservation: high levels of political confidence, strong legal institutions protecting private property rights, and low levels of bureaucratic corruption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, many possible explanations have been offered for why America has become a more polarized country. In this article, we introduce a new variable to the discussion. Rather than focusing on specific policy beliefs or political attitudes, we instead suggest that social trust can be an important explanatory factor in predicting which Americans are most likely to be polarized. Through the analysis of ANES data, we find that individuals who are strong trusters of others are more likely to identify as Strong Democrats while those less likely to do so are more likely to self-identify as Strong Republicans. The article concludes by looking at how considering social trust as a predictor of polarization impacts our understanding of American politics. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Current research has argued that direct legislation makes democracies better by helping to encourage better democratic citizenship. In this study, the author tests whether these effects are conditional on the diversity of the electorate. Theoretically, he argues that policy making by majority rule will create conflict because of the perceived threat of large numerical minorities by majority groups. The author hypothesizes that in areas of greater diversity, democratic citizenship socialization effects can be mitigated, especially as it relates to trusting strangers. Using pooled data from the American National Election Study, the author demonstrates the diversity conditional effects of ballot initiative context on generalized trust. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper explores the determinants of perceptions of the honesty of most people across 48 US states and three periods. The results show support for the detrimental effects of income inequality but no or little support for a set of popular alternative theories from the related literature on social trust. The decline in honesty perceptions in recent decades is found to have been a consequence of increasing social polarization and the natural decline of the most trusting age cohorts. Residual honesty has increased since the 1970s, giving rise to markedly different policy implications than those forwarded in most studies in the trust literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I test the impact of governmental corruption on generalized social trust. Based on prior research in comparative politics and criminology, I hypothesize that increasing governmental corruption leads to decreasing beliefs that others are trustworthy. To test my hypothesis, I combine aggregate state-level data on convictions for governmental corruption with American National Election Studies panel survey data with waves in 2000, 2002, and 2004. My findings show a clear impact of greater corruption on levels of generalized trust. I find that living in states with increased corruption lowers generalized trust, while controlling for other known determinants. This research expands our knowledge of how institutional actions influence generalized trust. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assesses views of fuel management approaches by wildland-urban interface homeowners in the U.S. Hazardous fuel reduction measures implemented by the government to address the threat of wildfires; Trust in public land managers; Factors that affect the decision to support or oppose fuel management approaches; Conceptions of social trust; Association between agency trust and forest value orientation.

The US has experienced a substantial decline in social trust in recent decades. Surprisingly few studies analyze whether individual-level explanations can account for this decrease. We use three-wave panel data from the General Social Survey (2006–2014) to study the effects of four possible individual-level sources of changes in social trust: job loss, social ties, income, and confidence in political institutions. Findings from fixed-effects linear regression models suggest that all but social ties matter. We then use 1973–2018 GSS data to predict trust based on observed values for unemployment, confidence in institutions, and satisfaction with income, versus an alternative counterfactual scenario in which the values of those three predictors are held constant at their mean levels in the early 1970s. Predicted values from these two scenarios differ substantially, suggesting that decreasing confidence in institutions and increasing unemployment scarring may explain about half of the observed decline in US social trust. • There is a scarring effect of unemployment on social trust. • Changes in confidence in political institutions predict changes in social trust. • Dissatisfaction with income predicts social trust. • In the US, individual-level factors explain half of the 1973–2018 decline in trust. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]