“That’s how the trust began” : Forming trusting friendships from adolescence to adulthood

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F00216224%3A14230%2F25%3A00144232" target="_blank" >RIV/00216224:14230/25:00144232 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

<a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/epdf/10.1177/02654075241287909" target="_blank" >https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/epdf/10.1177/02654075241287909</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/02654075241287909" target="_blank" >10.1177/02654075241287909</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

“That’s how the trust began” : Forming trusting friendships from adolescence to adulthood

Original language description

Adolescence represents a sensitive period for embarking on trust-based friendships, which lay the foundation for successful close relationships later in life. The recent trust sequence model assumes that the trust process is universal regardless of the developmental stage. However, how the trust process may vary has been under-researched, especially during the critical period of adolescence and in the context of friendships. Therefore, this study qualitatively explored how people experience the process of forming trust in friends from early adolescence to adulthood. We conducted eight focus groups (N = 39 participants) with early (11-12 years), middle (14-15 years), and late (18-19 years) Czech adolescents and a comparative sample of adults. Data were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis, employing an inductive, semantic, and experiential approach. We identified four overarching themes: (1) Experiential Trust Building, (2) Absence of Reasons to Not Trust, (3) Relying on Intuitive Connection, and (4) Trusting the Right/Wrong Person (the third and fourth themes being exclusive to adolescents). Participants thus described multiple variations of the trust process, with much of the variation residing in the perceived importance of diminishing the leap of faith, i.e., the risks and uncertainties inherent in trusting. Immediate affect and stronger moral essentialism were relevant to trust formation among adolescents but not adults. These findings provide unique insights into experiences with forming trusting friendships from early adolescence to adulthood and extend the trust sequence model. Further research should explore the trust process in low- and high trust societies.

Czech name

—

Czech description

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Type

J_imp - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database

CEP classification

—

OECD FORD branch

50101 - Psychology (including human - machine relations)

Project

<a href="/en/project/GA24-11851S" target="_blank" >GA24-11851S: Trust in authorities from a life-span perspective</a><br>

Continuities

P - Projekt vyzkumu a vyvoje financovany z verejnych zdroju (s odkazem do CEP)

Publication year

2025

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

Journal of Social and Personal Relationships

ISSN

0265-4075

e-ISSN

1460-3608

Volume of the periodical

42

Issue of the periodical within the volume

1

Country of publishing house

GB - UNITED KINGDOM

Number of pages

21

Pages from-to

52-72

UT code for WoS article

001319813500001

EID of the result in the Scopus database

2-s2.0-85205380648