Socialized to (Dis)trust? A Panel Study into the Origins of Dispositional Institutional Trust

Area of Science:

• Social Sciences
• Political Science
• Sociology

Background:

• Institutional trust is often viewed as a product of socialization, formed during impressionable years and remaining stable thereafter.
• The socialization process shaping institutional trust and distrust has not been empirically studied directly.
• Existing theories propose either continuous attitude updating throughout life or stable dispositional attitudes post-adolescence.

Purpose of the Study:

• To empirically test competing models of institutional trust formation: the active updating model versus the settled dispositions model.
• To investigate whether political trust attitudes are continuously updated or become fixed after adolescence.
• To examine the role of socialization in shaping long-term institutional trust.

Main Methods:

• Utilized two Dutch panel datasets (LISS panel and Dutch Adolescent Panel on Democratic Values) spanning 2018-2022.
• Measured annual trust in political and other institutions among adolescents and adults.
• Employed longitudinal analysis to compare the active updating and settled dispositions models.

Main Results:

• Evidence supports the impressionable years hypothesis, indicating political trust is updated during adolescence.
• Political trust attitudes appear to settle into a stable disposition among adults.
• Longitudinal data reveal distinct patterns of trust development in adolescents versus adults.

Conclusions:

• Socialization processes are crucial for forming institutional trust during adolescence.
• Adult institutional trust is largely dispositional, suggesting stability in public attitudes.
• Findings have significant implications for understanding the determinants and consequences of institutional trust over the lifespan.