Social Support and Coping Style Differences in Subjects High and Low in Interpersonal Trust
Subjects high in trust have been shown to cope more effectively with stress than subjects low in trust. To provide possible explanations of the process by which trust moderates the effects of stress, subjects high and low in trust were compared on a number of variables of social support and coping behavior. Although both groups were similar in the number of supportive transactions experienced in the last month, subjects high in trust viewed both friends and family as more supportive and engaged in more social support-seeking and less dysfunctional coping behavior than subjects low in trust. Apparently, an inability to benefit from and effectively utilize social support combined with a dysfunctional coping style make subjects low in trust more vulnerable to stressful negative life events than subjects high in trust.