Maintaining social trust: Family cohesion and enhancing mindset in the face of COVID‐19 stress

Abstract

We recruited a large cross‐sectional sample of undergraduate students in China (n = 1134) early in the COVID‐19 pandemic to investigate how family cohesion may be related to the maintenance of social trust. Family cohesion was positively associated with social trust, and this effect was partially mediated by psychological stress responses to COVID‐19 (PSRC), that is, family cohesion was negatively associated with greater PSRC which was also negatively associated with social trust. Having a “stress‐as‐enhancing” mindset had an additive negative effect on the association between family cohesion and PSRC but only had a weak dampening effect on the negative association between PSRC and trust. Interventions focusing on cultivating positive family relationships and embracing a stress‐as‐enhancing mindset may offer avenues for maximizing protective factors in times of public health crises.