The development of adolescent trust behavior

H. Sijtsma*, N. C. Lee, B. R. Braams, M. Hollarek, R. J. Walsh, M. van Buuren, L. Krabbendam

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Interpersonal trust shows developmental changes during adolescence. The current study used a longitudinal design to examine the development of trust behavior, the presence of gender differences in these developmental trajectories, and the association between individual differences in these developmental trajectories and perspective-taking abilities. The participants played a trust game with a hypothetical trustworthy partner and a trust game with a hypothetical untrustworthy partner in 3 consecutive years (Mage = 12.55 years, Mage = 13.54 years, and Mage = 14.54 years). Concerning the development of trust behavior, the results showed an age-related increase in initial trust behavior and indicated increasingly adaptive trust behavior with age during untrustworthy interactions, whereas no evidence was found for age-related changes in the adaptation of trust during trustworthy interactions. Gender differences were found for the development of initial trust behavior (with boys showing a stronger increase with age than girls), whereas no support was found for the presence of gender differences in the developmental trajectories of adaptive trust behavior during trustworthy and untrustworthy interactions. Furthermore, no evidence was found for perspective-taking abilities to explain individual differences in the development of initial trust behavior or in the development of adaptive trust behavior during trustworthy and untrustworthy interactions. The results provide evidence that, during adolescence initial trust behavior increased with age, more for boys than for girls, and that both boys and girls showed a stronger adaptive response to the untrustworthy partner but not to the trustworthy partner.

Original languageEnglish
Article number105653
Pages (from-to)1-23
Number of pages23
JournalJournal of Experimental Child Psychology
Volume231
Early online date26 Feb 2023
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jul 2023

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This study was supported by a European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator grant to L.K. (648082).

Funding Information:
This study was supported by a European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator grant to L.K. (648082). This study was approved by the scientific and ethical review board of the Faculty of Behavioral and Movement Sciences of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. All participants and parents/caregivers signed informed consent. Data were collected in accordance with the Code of Ethics of the World Medical Association (Declaration of Helsinki).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Author(s)

Keywords

  • Adaptation of trust behavior
  • Adolescence
  • Gender differences
  • Initial trust behavior
  • Longitudinal sample
  • Perspective-taking Abilities

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