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12 - A new scale for the assessment of adolescents' trust beliefs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 August 2010

By
Brandy A. Randall ,
Ken J. Rotenberg ,
Casey J. Totenhagen ,
Monica Rock  and
Christina Harmon
Edited by
Ken J. Rotenberg
Brandy A. Randall
Affiliation:
(North Dakota State University),
Ken J. Rotenberg
Affiliation:
(Keele University),
Casey J. Totenhagen
Affiliation:
(University of Arizona),
Monica Rock
Affiliation:
(North Dakota State University), and
Christina Harmon
Affiliation:
(North Dakota State University)
Ken J. Rotenberg
Affiliation:
Keele University
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Summary

You may be deceived if you trust too much, but you will live in torment if you do not trust enough.

Frank Crane

Trust is a key ingredient in the formation and maintenance of healthy interpersonal relationships. According to Rotter (1967), trust is “an expectancy held by an individual or group that the word, promise, or written statement of another individual or group can be relied upon” (p. 651). Interpersonal trust holds a prominent place in theoretical models of development. Erikson described the key developmental task of infancy as that of learning to see others as trustworthy (Erikson, 1963). The infant's trust in the caregiver is believed to be one of the primary bases in the formation of the attachment bond (Bowlby, 1979). Trust remains important across the life-span. Building a new relationship rests, in part, upon the partners' joint ability to trust the other as they engage in a process of reciprocal disclosure of thoughts, feelings, and life experiences (Rempel, Holmes, and Zanna, 1985). Maintenance of relationships also rests upon trust; relationship disintegration frequently results from either a lack of trust (e.g., romantic jealousy) or an outright betrayal of trust (e.g., infidelity) (Collins and Read, 1990; Feeney, 2005; Mikulincer, 1998). Given the significance of trust in the life-course of the individual, continued empirical research charting the developmental progression of interpersonal trust is necessary.

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Interpersonal Trust during Childhood and Adolescence , pp. 247 - 269
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2010

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