Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: As the Internet continues to expand globally, the understanding of the micro level connections between culture and online interaction is vital from a scientific perspective. The current study explores the effects of societal values of interpersonal trust on online interactions. Using data from the World Values Survey and Inglehart’s (1997) scores of interpersonal trust, the study compares the effect of seller feedback ratings on online auction participation in three economically similar but culturally distinct countries, Canada, France and Germany. The results indicate a significant interaction between culture, interpersonal trust levels and seller ratings on bidder participant. Cultures exhibiting high levels of interpersonal trust tend to participate in online auctions irrespective of the sellers feedback ratings. However, in low trust cultures, seller ratings have a significant effect on bidders. The extent of the effect seems to depend on the degree of trust and the variation in seller ratings.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Theories abound about the apparent lack of civic and political engagement in American society. An emerging line of thought contends that interpersonal trust is the backbone of civic engagement. People who have positive views of their fellow human beings and develop many close interpersonal relationships will in turn have more trust in the political and civic structures of society and be more engaged. This argument may be particularly significant since measures of interpersonal trust indicate that it has been on the decline.

Does interpersonal trust really make a difference in civic engagement? The socialization literature contends that youth who volunteer in a civic or political group are more likely to continue this behavior as adults. Participating in this activity may in fact build trust. The key question remains – is interpersonal trust an important component of an engaged citizenry?

This paper will utilize a national telephone survey of more than 3,000 Americans age 15 and older (including an oversample of the youngest cohorts). The paper will examine the relationship between interpersonal trust and involvement in civic activities (defined broadly as both community service and political activities). Specifically, levels of interpersonal trust will be compared among members of different age cohorts who are (and are not) actively engaged in civic life.



Submitted by
Patrick Murray
Kelly L. Sand

Eagleton Institute of Politics
Rutgers University

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: This paper questions the feasibility of cultural theories of democracy that argue that stocks of social capital?especially interpersonal trust?are required for stable, effective democratic institutions. We focus specifically on Robert Putnam?s analysis of Italian regional institutions and search for evidence of differences in stocks of social capital across the Italian regions that might predict the later variation in the effectiveness of regional governments noted by Putnam. The findings indicate that residents in Northern Italy exhibited markedly low levels of interpersonal trust in 1959, virtually indistinguishable from the Southern regions, suggesting that the economic and political success of that region may stem from other sources. In addition, evidence from Italy in 1990 indicates that trust (a) increased considerably across the whole of the country and (b) increased more in the North than in the South. These findings create a rather interesting puzzle: how did trust grow at such a remarkable rate across the span of 40 years and how did it grow at differential rates in the two regions? We suggest one potential explanation which is related to the nature of communal participation; specifically, that certain forms of communal participation are likely to stimulate the growth of trust while other forms of participation are likely to stymie it.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Research indicates that the construct of psychopathy can be split into two factors (Harpur et al 1988). Factor 1 characteristics reflect interpersonal and affective attributes such as callousness, selfishness, and conning and manipulative behaviors. Factor 2 characteristics reflect social deviance attributes such as parasitic lifestyle and criminal behavior. This paper examines the relationship of Factor 1 and Factor 2 to self-reported interpersonal functioning in a sample (n=404) of jail inmates. Heterogeneity of interpersonal functioning of psychopaths has many clinical implications, such as developing treatments corresponding with relational style. Psychopathy was assessed by the Psychopathy Checklist–Short Version (PCL-SV; Hare, Cox & Hare 1995). Preliminary results indicate that Factor 1 and Factor 2 are differentially related to indices of interpersonal functioning. Factor 2 appears to be uniquely associated with self-reports of negative relationships (β=.37, p<.001), the inability to take another’s perspective (β=-.15, p<.01), and a lack of connectedness to the current family (β=-.19, p<.01). Factor 1 is uniquely associated with dominance in relationships (β=.25, p<.001) and perspective taking (β=.12, p<.05), but not with empathic concern (β=-.02, p>.05). Future analyses will examine participants’ relational history prior to incarceration, contact with family and friends during incarceration, and post release relational adjustment.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Suicide research typically examines one of four fundamental risk factors (e.g. family dysfunction, loss, health, and interpersonal difficulty). Yet despite the amount of research being done on suicide, no uniform consensus has been reached, by any discipline, regarding its cause. Based on theories of anomie and the cognitive stress-diathesis model, we develop and test a model of the effects between family abuse; family suicide history; substance abuse, PTSD and major depression diagnosis; survival sex; and deliberate self-harm as they predict suicide ideation among homeless and runaway adolescents. By using structural equation modeling, we test this model on a sample of 428 homeless and runaway youth in eight Midwestern cities. We find that family abuse and family suicide history indirectly effect the suicidal ideation of homeless and runaway youth. Additionally, substance abuse, PTSD, and major depression diagnosis mediate the relationship between family variables and interpersonal variables that lead to suicidal ideation.

Supporting Publications:
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