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The Role of Trust in Low‐Income Mothers' Intimate Unions
Author(s) -
Burton Linda M.,
Cherlin Andrew,
Winn DonnaMarie,
Estacion Angela,
HolderTaylor Clara
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
journal of marriage and family
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.578
H-Index - 159
eISSN - 1741-3737
pISSN - 0022-2445
DOI - 10.1111/j.1741-3737.2009.00658.x
Subject(s) - distrust , low income , scholarship , ethnography , interpersonal communication , grounded theory , social psychology , longitudinal study , sociology , psychology , gender studies , political science , qualitative research , socioeconomics , social science , medicine , law , anthropology , psychotherapist , pathology
Recent scholarship concerning low rates of marriage among low‐income mothers emphasizes generalized gender distrust as a major impediment in forming sustainable intimate unions. Guided by symbolic interaction theory and longitudinal ethnographic data on 256 low‐income mothers from the Three‐City Study, we argue that generalized gender distrust may not be as influential in shaping mothers' unions as some researchers suggest. Grounded theory analysis revealed that 96% of the mothers voiced a general distrust of men, yet that distrust did not deter them from involvement in intimate unions. Rather, the pivotal ways mothers enacted trust in their partners were demonstrated by 4 emergent forms of interpersonal trust that we labeled as suspended, compartmentalized, misplaced, and integrated. Implications for future research are discussed.