The Assessment of Trust Orientation

Abstract

The development of the Trust Inventory, a 40-item measure of trust in generalized others (Generalized Trust) and romantic partners (Partner Trust) is described. A third conceptualization of trust in friends and family members (Network Trust) is also discussed College students (N = 1,229) participated in five stages of test construction and validation. Results indicated that the Trust Inventory scales are reliable, both internally and temporally, and that the Partner Trust and Generalized Trust Scales demonstrate both concurrent and construct validity. The resulting inventory is unique in its capacity to assess these types of trust simultaneously. Evidence supporting the discriminant validity of the Network Trust was mixed, whereas factor analytic treatments of Trust Inventory items supported the distinctiveness of Network Trust as compared to Partner and Generalized Trust, the Network Trust Scale correlated to roughly the same degree as the other two scales with several variables of differential theoretical relevance. Thus, little evidence supporting the incremental validity of Network Trust was observed Discussion focuses on the evidence suggesting the validity of interpretations of Generalized and Partner Trust and considers the issue of additional research regarding Network Trust.