Title
Generalized trust and diversity in the classroom: A longitudinal study of Romanian adolescents
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
3-2015
Publication Title
Communist and Post-Communist Studies
Volume
48
Abstract
Generalized trust, the faith we place in strangers, is a fundamental attribute of democratic societies. We investigate the development of generalized trust using data collected from Romanian high school students within a multi-level, panel research design. We find that diversity in the classroom, defined through ethnic and socio-economic differences, has negative effects on generalized trust. Associational membership interacts indirectly with diversity, counteracting the negative impact of ethnic diversity but reinforcing socio-economic distinctions. The findings support cultural theories of generalized trust and point to the potentially positive role educational policy might play in encouraging trust among youths.
Issue
1
First Page
33
Last Page
41
DOI
10.1016/j.postcomstud.2015.01.004
ISSN
0967-067X
Rights
First published in Communist and Post-Communist Studies.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Gabriel Bădescu and Paul E. Sum. "Generalized trust and diversity in the classroom: A longitudinal study of Romanian adolescents" (2015). Political Science & Public Administration Faculty Publications. 1.
https://commons.und.edu/pssa-fac/1
