IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/jhappi/v26y2025i6d10.1007_s10902-025-00931-2.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Life Satisfaction Differences Across Trust Profiles Among Dutch Adolescents

Author

Listed:
  • Shanshan Bi

    (Utrecht University
    The Education University of Hong Kong)

  • Marlies Maes

    (The Education University of Hong Kong)

  • Gonneke W. J. M. Stevens

    (The Education University of Hong Kong)

  • Catrin Finkenauer

    (The Education University of Hong Kong)

Abstract

The current study examined the associations between different trust profiles and adolescent life satisfaction. Using latent profile analysis, a nation-wide sample of 3748 Dutch secondary school students (Mage = 13.76 years, SD = 1.36) was classified into seven trust profiles based on their levels of interpersonal, generalized, and institutional trust. Two profiles—High Trust and Low Trust—were characterized by, respectively, consistently high or low levels across all trust types. In contrast, the remaining five profiles—Low-to-Moderate Trust, Moderate Trust, Moderate-to-High Trust, High Interpersonal Trust, and Low Institutional Trust—showed inconsistent patterns, with each profile exhibiting at least one trust type that differed in level from the other two. In each of the seven identified profiles, the level of interpersonal trust was either equally high as or higher than those of the other trust types. Differences in life satisfaction were also observed across these profiles. Adolescents in the High Trust profile reported the highest life satisfaction, followed by those in the Moderate-to-High Trust and Low Institutional Trust profiles. In contrast, those in the Low Trust, Low-to-Moderate Trust, and Moderate Trust profiles exhibited the lowest life satisfaction levels. Our results indicated that adolescents in profiles with relatively high interpersonal trust reported higher life satisfaction, even when institutional trust was low, highlighting the protective role of interpersonal trust. These findings suggest that adolescents with below-moderate trust levels are at risk for low well-being and may benefit from targeted interventions. Specifically, fostering interpersonal trust may be particularly effective in enhancing adolescent well-being.

Suggested Citation

  • Shanshan Bi & Marlies Maes & Gonneke W. J. M. Stevens & Catrin Finkenauer, 2025. "Life Satisfaction Differences Across Trust Profiles Among Dutch Adolescents," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 26(6), pages 1-25, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jhappi:v:26:y:2025:i:6:d:10.1007_s10902-025-00931-2
    DOI: 10.1007/s10902-025-00931-2
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10902-025-00931-2
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10902-025-00931-2?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Matt Henn & Mark Weinstein & Sarah Forrest, 2005. "Uninterested Youth? Young People's Attitudes towards Party Politics in Britain," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 53, pages 556-578, October.
    2. Matt Henn & Mark Weinstein & Sarah Forrest, 2005. "Uninterested Youth? Young People's Attitudes towards Party Politics in Britain," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 53(3), pages 556-578, October.
    3. Torbjørn Torsheim & Franco Cavallo & Kate Ann Levin & Christina Schnohr & Joanna Mazur & Birgit Niclasen & Candace Currie, 2016. "Psychometric Validation of the Revised Family Affluence Scale: a Latent Variable Approach," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 9(3), pages 771-784, September.
    4. Christoph Glatz & Anja Eder, 2020. "Patterns of Trust and Subjective Well-Being Across Europe: New Insights from Repeated Cross-Sectional Analyses Based on the European Social Survey 2002–2016," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 148(2), pages 417-439, April.
    5. K. Levin & C. Currie, 2014. "Reliability and Validity of an Adapted Version of the Cantril Ladder for Use with Adolescent Samples," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 119(2), pages 1047-1063, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Miquel Àngel Essomba & Maria Nadeu & Anna Tarrés, 2023. "Youth Democratic Political Identity and Disaffection: Active Citizenship and Participation to Counteract Populism and Polarization in Barcelona," Societies, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-13, November.
    2. Hansen, Kerstin F. & Stutzer, Alois, 2022. "Parental unemployment, social insurance and child well-being across countries," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 204(C), pages 600-617.
    3. Alberto Borraccino & Paola Berchialla & Paola Dalmasso & Veronica Sciannameo & Alessio Vieno & Giacomo Lazzeri & Lorena Charrier & Patrizia Lemma, 2020. "Connectedness as a protective factor in immigrant youth: results from the Health Behaviours in School-aged Children (HBSC) Italian study," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 65(3), pages 303-312, April.
    4. Saikat Banerjee & Bibek Ray Chaudhuri, 2022. "Correction to: Brand love and party preference of young political consumers (voters)," International Review on Public and Nonprofit Marketing, Springer;International Association of Public and Non-Profit Marketing, vol. 19(3), pages 505-505, September.
    5. Rafaela C. Espírito Santo & Geiziane R. Melo & Viney P. Dubey & Cesar Agostinis-Sobrinho, 2025. "The Impact of Ideal Cardiovascular Health Behaviors on Mental Health and Well-Being Among Baltic Countries Adolescents: Findings from the HBSC Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 22(4), pages 1-14, March.
    6. Willems, Jurgen, 2020. "Citizens’ attitudes towards the public sector, public servants, and politicians – Development and validation of practical survey scales," OSF Preprints rnjua, Center for Open Science.
    7. Alberto Borraccino & Giacomo Lazzeri & Omar Kakaa & Petr Bad’ura & Daniele Bottigliengo & Paola Dalmasso & Patrizia Lemma, 2020. "The Contribution of Organised Leisure-Time Activities in Shaping Positive Community Health Practices among 13- and 15-Year-Old Adolescents: Results from the Health Behaviours in School-Aged Children S," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(18), pages 1-12, September.
    8. Alberto Borraccino & Paola Berchialla & Paola Dalmasso & Veronica Sciannameo & Alessio Vieno & Giacomo Lazzeri & Lorena Charrier & Patrizia Lemma, 0. "Connectedness as a protective factor in immigrant youth: results from the Health Behaviours in School-aged Children (HBSC) Italian study," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 0, pages 1-10.
    9. Darren Sharpe, 2018. "The Making of Democratic Actors: Counting the Costs of Public Cuts in England on Young People’s Steps towards Citizenship," Societies, MDPI, vol. 8(4), pages 1-16, November.
    10. Haiyang Lu & Ivan T. Kandilov & Rong Zhu, 2022. "Does social integration matter for cohort differences in the political participation of internal migrants in China?," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(3), pages 1555-1573, August.
    11. Saikat Banerjee, 2021. "On the relationship between online brand community and brand preference in political market," International Review on Public and Nonprofit Marketing, Springer;International Association of Public and Non-Profit Marketing, vol. 18(1), pages 27-55, March.
    12. Daryna Grechyna & Rhema Vaithianathan, 2024. "Fertility and Welfare under Demeny Voting," CESifo Working Paper Series 11553, CESifo.
    13. repec:osf:osfxxx:rnjua_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Ana Pontes & Matt Henn & Mark D. Griffiths, 2018. "Towards a Conceptualization of Young People’s Political Engagement: A Qualitative Focus Group Study," Societies, MDPI, vol. 8(1), pages 1-17, March.
    15. repec:plo:pone00:0245597 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Daniela Pierannunzio & Angela Spinelli & Paola Berchialla & Alberto Borraccino & Lorena Charrier & Paola Dalmasso & Giacomo Lazzeri & Alessio Vieno & Silvia Ciardullo & Paola Nardone, 2022. "Physical Activity among Italian Adolescents: Association with Life Satisfaction, Self-Rated Health and Peer Relationships," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(8), pages 1-12, April.
    17. Apolinaras Zaborskis & Monika Grincaite, 2018. "Gender and Age Differences in Social Inequality on Adolescent Life Satisfaction: A Comparative Analysis of Health Behaviour Data from 41 Countries," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-11, June.
    18. Georgios Kyroglou & Matt Henn, 2017. "Political Consumerism as a Neoliberal Response to Youth Political Disengagement," Societies, MDPI, vol. 7(4), pages 1-16, December.
    19. Rachel Brooks, 2009. "Young People and Political Participation: An Analysis of European Union Policies," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 14(1), pages 63-74, January.
    20. Carlo Genova, 2018. "Youth Activism in Political Squats between Centri Sociali and Case Occupate," Societies, MDPI, vol. 8(3), pages 1-25, September.
    21. Jonathan Muringani & Rune Dahl Fitjar & Andrés Rodríguez-Pose, 2024. "Political trust and economic development in European regions," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 73(4), pages 2059-2089, December.
    22. Zsuzsa Lábiscsák-Erdélyi & Ilona Veres-Balajti & Annamária Somhegyi & Karolina Kósa, 2022. "Self-Esteem Is Independent Factor and Moderator of School-Related Psychosocial Determinants of Life Satisfaction in Adolescents," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(9), pages 1-14, May.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:jhappi:v:26:y:2025:i:6:d:10.1007_s10902-025-00931-2. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.