The Socialisation of Trust: Parents' and Children's Interpersonal Trust

In an investigation of the socialisation of trust, 72 parents and their 50 elementary schoolchildren completed trust belief scales and played a Prisoner's Dilemma (PD) game with each other and with a stranger. In addition, parents described incidents designed to reveal their promise fulfilment to their children. The study yielded positive correlations between: (1) mothers' promise fulfilment to their children and their children's trust beliefs in mothers, fathers, and teachers; and (2) mothers' trust beliefs and their children's trust beliefs in teachers. Additionally, fathers' promised co-operation in the PD game was correlated with their children's promised co-operation in the PD game in interactions with fathers, mothers, and strangers. The findings of this study suggest that mothers shape their children's trust beliefs whereas fathers shape their children's trusting behaviour in a play context.

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