Differential Effects of Interpersonal and Political Trust on Happiness and Life Satisfaction

Abstract

Most social scientists converge to the view that trust has important effects on individual and social well-being. There are, however two categories of objects of trust: persons (interpersonal trust) and institutions (governmental institutions, political parties and so on). Moreover, any of these forms of trust presume both affective and cognitive mechanisms. This paper starts with the observation that subjective well-being also comprises two dimensions: one cognitive (life satisfaction), and another affective (positive affect and happiness), and it explores the possibility that the different forms and dimensions of trust may have different influences on these dimensions. Using data from the round of European Social Survey (2005/2007), it was found that both trust constructs are correlated with subjective well-being, at individual as well as national (aggregated) level. There are differences between Western and Southern European societies, on one hand, and Eastern European countries on the other hand, concerning these relationships. When controlling for gender, age and educational level, interpersonal trust was found to be a more powerful predictor of subjective well-being than political trust in West, while in the East we found the opposite. A tentative explanation is based on the different types of social capital and the increased welfare dependency in East compared with West. Meanwhile, the cognitive measure of subjective well-being (life satisfaction) correlates better with both constructs of trust. Implications on the affective and cognitive dimensions of trust are also discussed within the paper.

Keywords: subjective well-being, attitudes, confidence in institutions, interpersonal trust