ABSTRACT

Central to various theories in developmental psychology is the principle that parents and other social agents contribute to the development of trust during childhood. A linked social history between children and their parents is produced by reciprocated trust beliefs and trust behaviours during the course of social interaction. This chapter reviews the developmental theories and related research to suggest the sensitive and nurturing parenting promotes children's trust in parents, maternal verbalisations of trust and paternal trusting behaviour promote children's trust beliefs/behaviour towards others, and adolescents' disclosure promotes parents' trust in them. It includes research suggesting that divorce is detrimental to specific forms of trust beliefs in the offspring. The chapter also suggests how parents could foster children's trust in them by not engaging in punitive parenting and lying to their children. Adolescents were administered measures of social trust, interpersonal trust, and school solidarity.