The Relation Between Trust Beliefs and Loneliness During Early Childhood, Middle Childhood, and Adulthood

Abstract

Four studies examined the relation between trust and loneliness. Studies 1, 2, and 3 showed that trust beliefs negatively predicted changes in loneliness during early childhood (5-7 years), middle childhood (9-11 years), and young adulthood (18-21 years). Structural equation modeling yielded support for the hypothesis that the relation between trust beliefs and loneliness was mediated, in part, by social disengagement, which varied by age and gender. Study 4 showed that when young adults were primed for distrust rather than for trust cognitions, they showed greater withdrawal (loneliness) affect, lower willingness to disclose, and less perceived success in achieving rapport. The findings yielded support for the hypotheses that (a) low trust beliefs promote loneliness from childhood to adulthood and (b) social disengagement and cognitive schema mechanisms account for the relation.

College students’ experiences of and coping with loneliness - possibilities of peer support

“…Yet, the personal or inner factors, in other words one's tendencies and psyche, are connected with how loneliness is experienced. In this study, several students described issues and happenings in their childhood and adolescence that were perceived related to loneliness (see also Marcoen & Brumagne, 1985;Rotenberg et al, 2010). Thus, the psycho-dynamic theory supports the results of this research when it comes to the reasons of loneliness.…”

Suspicious spirits, flexible minds: When distrust enhances creativity.

“…Distrust, however, will keep people from sharing ideas-and probably the more unusual and possibly "crazy" ones in particular-in order to protect themselves against exploitation and ridicule (Amabile & Gryskiewicz, 1989;Edmondson, 2004;Ekvall, 1996;Ekvall & Ryhammar, 1999;Klimoski & Karol, 1976;Petermann, 1992;Rotenberg et al, 2010;Schoorman et al, 2007;West, 2002; see also De Cremer, 1999).…”

“…I, therefore, chose to manipulate distrust in a subtle way and to separate the distrust manipulation from the creativity task. This approach has been taken not only in previous research on distrust (Rotenberg et al, 2010;Schul et al, 2004Schul et al, , 2008, but also in research on other important interpersonal variables like social power . Specifically, Studies 1, 3, and 4 employ a subliminal priming procedure embedded in a lexical decision task.…”

“…The present experiments set out to induce distrust while keeping changes in hedonic tone and arousal as minimal as possible (see also Friesen & Sinclair, 2011;Rotenberg et al, 2010;Schul et al, 2004Schul et al, , 2008. Furthermore, the priming manipulations were designed to induce unfocused distrust, i.e., a state that is not directed at a specific source.…”

Low Emotional Trust in Mothers is Associated with Increased Suicide Attempts in Inpatient Adolescents with Depressive Symptoms

“…Emotional trust beliefs are defined as believing that another will refrain from causing emotional harm and will maintain one's confidentiality (Rotenberg, 2010;Rotenberg et al, 2010). According to the emotional trust belief hypothesis, children's emotional trust beliefs in others are associated with their disclosure of personal information, based on the belief that self-disclosure will be both non-harmful and potentially helpful (Rotenberg, Petrocchi, Lecciso, & Marchetti, 2014).…”