Discrimination experience, family relations, and generalized trust in China

Building upon how experiential learning theory explains sources of generalized trust, this study argues that discrimination experiences of others in individual's social network, especially those in close social ties, can have spillover influence on one's generalized trust. Empirically, this study focuses on family relations and examines whether another family member's discrimination experiences may shape an adult individual's generalized trust. Using husband-wife and parent-child linked data from the adult sample of China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) in 2012, this study confirms findings that an individual's discrimination experiences negatively impact their own level of generalized trust. Additionally, net of one's own experiences of discrimination, the disorder experienced by closely related others also affects generalized trust. This is true for effects that travel from husband to wife and wife to husband. However, these impacts are not found in parent-child relationships. The results of this study extend previous literature on sources of generalized trust by suggesting an additional mechanism whereby family members' experiences with discrimination spillover to affect generalized trust for closely related adults.