Interpersonal Trust: Development and Validation of a Self-Report Inventory and Clinical Application in Patients With Borderline Personality Disorder

Abstract

Based on typical everyday trust situations, a short and ecologically valid self-report instrument for the assessment of interpersonal trust was developed (Interpersonal Trust Scenario Questionnaire [ITSQ]). Data from 1,359 clinical and nonclinical participants were analyzed to examine psychometric properties and group differences. The authors assessed interpersonal trust in patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD), patients with major depressive disorder, and patients with social anxiety disorder. Lastly, the relationship between interpersonal trust and the perceived quality of the therapeutic alliance was examined. The ITSQ showed satisfactory reliability (Cronbach's α = 0.72). Convergent validity and discriminant validity were obtained for correlations with a hypothetical trust game, another interpersonal trust scale (KUSIV-3), risk propensity, optimism and pessimism, and the HEXACO-60. Patients with BPD showed the lowest interpersonal trust scores of all groups. Interpersonal trust and the perceived quality of the therapeutic alliance were significantly associated only in the group of patients with BPD.

Autobiographical memories of interpersonal trust in borderline personality disorder

“…Interestingly, they also recalled memories where they themselves failed to trust their family members. This result corresponds with findings on self-reported difficulties in trusting close others by patients with BPD [ 7 ].…”

“…Interestingly, they also recalled memories where they themselves failed to trust their family members. This result corresponds with findings on selfreported difficulties in trusting close others by patients with BPD [7]. The main focus of the current study was to analyze content of trust memories of patients with BPD and non-clinical control participants.…”

“…We follow the definition of Thielmann and Hilbig [6] who understand interpersonal trust as: "A risky choice of making oneself dependent on the actions of another in a situation of uncertainty, based upon some expectation of whether the other will act in a benevolent fashion despite an opportunity to betray.". In a recent study by our research group [7], we found that patients with BPD do not seem to display alterations in interpersonal trust in all facets of the construct of trust. As our research is based on a behavioral understanding of interpersonal trust, different facets of trust are understood as different kinds of trustful acts, i.e.…”

“…It is striking that the patient who described this memory seems to have frequently experienced similar situations (my father obviously again did not stick to his word). As trust behavior is influenced by trust experiences [6], it does not seem surprising at all that patients with BPD reported difficulties trusting close others [7] Conway and Pleydell-Pearce's [24] model about ABMs provides possible explanations for how trust experiences might influence current trust behavior. As described in the introduction, the model assumes that individuals contain sets of different self-schemata that are connected to specific goals.…”

“…However, for a deeper understanding of alterations in trust behavior in BPD, it seems necessary to examine trust experiences. Having in mind that patients with BPD do not seem to display trust alterations on all facets of interpersonal trust (i.e., only when entrusting material items to people known to them; see [7]) we wanted to examine if those features were reflected within their ABMs of trust, too. The first aim of the present study was to investigate ABMs of trust regarding the interaction partners and trust objects in both patients with BPD and non-clinical controls.…”