Development and Validation of Social Trust Scale for Chinese Adolescents (STS-CA)

TL;DR

This study created and tested a new scale to measure social trust in Chinese adolescents, showing it is reliable and valid.

Contribution

The paper introduces the Chinese Adolescent Social Trust Scale (STS-CA), a validated tool for assessing social trust in adolescents.

Findings

The STS-CA consists of 27 items across four factors: trust in relatives, friends, strangers, and organizations.

The scale showed strong reliability, validity, and measurement equivalence across gender and education levels.

Correlations with external variables like life satisfaction and trust propensity support its criterion validity.

Abstract

Social trust is a crucial factor influencing adolescents’ mental health and serves as a cornerstone for social stability. However, there is a lack of a reliable measurement tool specifically designed to assess the psychological characteristics of adolescents’ social trust. This study aimed to develop and validate the Chinese Adolescent Social Trust Scale (STS-CA). Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 45 adolescents (aged 12 to17 years) to generate an initial pool of scale items. Subsequently, eighteen psychological experts evaluated the content validity, and the scale was revised based on their feedback, resulting in a preliminary version. A total of 2036 secondary school students were randomly divided into Sample 1 and Sample 2. Sample 1 (N1 = 1018) was used in item analysis and exploratory factor analysis (EFA). Sample 2 (N2 = 1018) was utilized for confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Sample 3 (N3 = 1214) was recruited to assess the scale’s reliability, validity, and measurement equivalence. Two months later, test–retest reliability analysis was assessed using Sample 4 (N4 = 303). The final STS-CA consists of 27 items covering four factors, namely trust in relatives, trust in friends, trust in strangers, and trust in organizations. The scale demonstrated good internal consistency reliability, test–retest reliability, convergent validity, and discriminant validity. Correlations between the STS-CA subscale scores and external criterion variables—interpersonal trust, trust propensity, and life satisfaction—supported criterion validity. Additionally, the scale exhibited good measurement equivalence across gender and educational stages. Overall, our findings demonstrate that the STS-CA is a reliable and valid instrument for assessing social trust levels among Chinese adolescents.

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