Does the nuclear family affect social trust? Longitudinal evidence from Germany

Figures & data

Table 1. Descriptive statistics of the data at the level of 44,979 observations for 17,817 respondents.

	Mean	SD	Low	High
Social trust index	2.6	0.6	1	4
Social trust item 1	2.6	0.7	1	4
Social trust item 2	2.6	0.8	1	4
Current age	50.6	16.8	17	99
Partnership	73.3%		0	1
Parenthood	68.6%		0	1
Years partnered	6.9	6.8	0	19
Years parent	10.6	8.2	0	19
Number of children	1.4	1.2	0	5

Table 2. Regression results from the analysis of social trust (1–4) as related to entering partnerships and parenthood and years being partnered and a parent plus ageing.

	1		2		3
Partnership ^a	−0.009	(.012)			−0.010	(.014)
Years partnered ^b			−0.022*	(.010)	−0.025*	(.011)
Parenthood ^a	0.013	(.021)			−0.015	(.021)
Years parent ^b			0.063**	(.018)	0.066**	(.019)
Age <40 ^b	0.049**	(.014)	0.024	(.015)	0.026	(.016)
Age 40–60 ^b	0.014	(.010)	0.012	(.012)	0.014	(.012)
Age >60 ^b	−0.006	(.011)	0.005	(.012)	0.007	(.012)
Fixed effects	Yes		Yes		Yes
Period effects ^a	Yes		Yes		Yes

Notes: ^a 0 or 1; ^b years/10; * p <0.05; ** p <0.01.

Table 3. More detailed analyses of family formation variables in relation to social trust (1–4) by adding dummy variables for entering partnerships and parenthood (model 4) and splitting the duration variables (years partnered and being a parent at nine years, model 5).

	4		5
Years partnered ^b	−0.022*	(.010)
Years parent ^b	0.061**	(.019)
Number of children	0.004	(.012)
Partnered <9 years ^b			−0.023	(.013)
Partnered >9 years ^b			−0.019	(.018)
Parent <9 years ^b			0.039	(.029)
Parent >9 years ^b			0.077**	(.024)
Age <40 ^b	0.022	(.016)	0.028	(.016)
Age 40–60 ^b	0.013	(.012)	0.010	(.012)
Age >60 ^b	0.005	(.012)	0.004	(.012)
Fixed effects	Yes		Yes
Period effects ^a	Yes		Yes

Notes: ^a 0 or 1; ^b years/10; * p <0.05; ** p <0.01.

Table 4. Introducing interaction terms between gender and age versus family formation variables in the analysis of social trust (1–4).

	6		7
Years partnered ^b	−0.031*	(.014)	−0.013	(.035)
Years parent ^b	0.057*	(.025)	0.022	(.044)
Age <40 ^b	0.023	(.016)	0.024	(.016)
Age 40–60 ^b	0.013	(.012)	0.001	(.017)
Age >60 ^b	0.006	(.014)	−0.005	(.018)
Years partn.*female	0.017	(.017)
Years parent*female	0.013	(.031)
Years partn.*age			−0.002	(.006)
Years parent*age			0.009	(.009)
Fixed effects	Yes		Yes
Period effects ^a	Yes		Yes

Notes: ^a 0 or 1; ^b years/10; * p <0.05.

Table 5. Separate analyses of the two items (1 and 2) of social trust (1–4) in models that otherwise correspond to model 2 in Table 2.

	Item 1: ‘People can be trusted’		Item 2: ‘You can’t rely on anyone’
Years partnered ^b	−0.011	(.010)	−0.033**	(.013)
Years parent ^b	0.055**	(.021)	0.070**	(.024)
Age <40 ^b	0.031	(.018)	0.017	(.020)
Age 40–60 ^b	−0.001	(.013)	0.026	(.016)
Age >60 ^b	−0.005	(.013)	0.014	(.016)
Fixed effects	Yes		Yes
Period effects ^a	Yes		Yes

Notes: ^a 0 or 1; ^b years/10; ** p <0.01.