A healthy dose of trust: The relationship between interpersonal trust and health

Abstract

The positive effects of trust are manifold. Recent research has shown that trust levels may even influence physical health. The current work explores this issue and aims to shed light on the mechanisms underlying the relationship between trust and health in a 5‐wave longitudinal data set. Results showed that trust was positively related to physical health: Participants report fewer health problems when they trust their partner more, replicating earlier findings. More importantly, symptoms of anxiety and depression mediate the effect of trust on self‐reported health. Finally, results of residual lagged analyses show that earlier levels of trust predict later symptoms of anxiety and depression symptoms, in turn predicting changes in physical health symptoms over time.