Trust and subjective well-being across the lifespan: A multilevel meta-analysis of cross-sectional and longitudinal associations.

Abstract

Trust in other people and institutions is associated with people’s well-being across the lifespan. Yet, the strength of these associations varies considerably across studies, and it remains unclear which factors account for this variation. Moreover, some longitudinal studies indicate that trust not only predicts well-being but that subjective well-being also predicts levels of trust. This preregistered meta-analysis provides a comprehensive synthesis of this vast field of research, establishing both the direction and strength of the association between trust and subjective well-being. Based on 991 effect sizes, including a total of 2,518,769 participants, the results of the multilevel meta-analysis revealed a positive overall association between trust and subjective well-being ( r = .21). The strength of this association varied depending on the type of trust and component of subjective well-being examined, the age of the participants, and the national-level generalized trust of the country in which the study took place. Despite these variations, the association between trust and subjective well-being was found across all sample and study characteristics examined, underlining the robustness of the association. In addition, results of the longitudinal meta-analyses showed that trust predicts subsequent well-being ( k = 55) and that well-being predicts subsequent trust ( k = 49). Together, these results suggest that trust and well-being mutually reinforce each other in a cyclical fashion. Since trust needs to be built, these findings underscore the importance of being genuinely trustworthy, whether as an individual or as an institution.