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Examining the multilevel associations between psychological wellbeing and social trust: A primary analysis of survey data
Author(s) -
Kim Harris Hyunsoo,
Shin Areum
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of community psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.585
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 1520-6629
pISSN - 0090-4392
DOI - 10.1002/jcop.22643
Subject(s) - happiness , social capital , operationalization , multilevel model , psychology , mental health , social psychology , survey data collection , sociology , psychiatry , social science , philosophy , statistics , mathematics , epistemology , machine learning , computer science
The present study examines the associations between multiple measures of social trust and two outcomes of psychological wellbeing (happiness and depression) among South Korean adults ( n = 1549) living in residential communities, that is, administrative districts ( n = 77) in and around the capital city of Seoul. Based on multilevel modeling, we find that familial trust positively predicts happiness at both individual and contextual levels; and it negatively predicts depression at the individual level only. In comparison, peer trust is negatively related only to depression at the individual level, albeit marginally. Lastly, general trust significantly predicts both outcomes at the community, but not individual, level. These mixed findings suggest that the trust‐wellbeing relationship depends critically on issues of definition (how the variables are conceptualized) and measurement (how they are operationalized according to different units of analysis). Our study offers implications for the literature on social determinants of mental health broadly and, more specifically, on the role of social trust.