Cultural variation in interpersonal trust is apparent in differences in children’s developing trust toward familiar and unfamiliar others

Interpersonal trust in others varies across societies with important implications. We examined the developmental course of this variability in Sweden and Turkey, two countries with distinct interpersonal trust attitudes. Two hundred children aged 7-10 (101 females, 99 males) rated how much they would trust others in hypothetical scenarios. Across cultures, children exhibited higher interpersonal trust for familiar than unfamiliar individuals. Further, trust towards familiar individuals increased with age in both countries, while trust towards unfamiliar individuals increased only in Sweden. Thus, greater trust for familiar over unfamiliar individuals became more pronounced with age in Turkey, a country characterized by a narrow trust radius and low interpersonal trust rates towards strangers. These findings suggest that societal disparities in trust beliefs emerge in childhood and highlight the importance of examining the underlying socialization processes.