BACKGROUND Refraining from required medical care can worsen health, particularly for the elderly, and increase public medical expenditure, which destabilizes the financial aspect of social security. Social capital, such as trust between residents and the norms of reciprocity in the community, is a possible measure to prevent refraining from medical care. METHODS We studied survey data collect...

The current research suggests that taking self-regulatory mechanisms into account provides insights regarding individuals' responses to threats in social interactions. In general, based on the notion that a prevention-focused orientation of self-regulation is associated with a need for security and a vigilant tendency to avoid losses and other types of negative events we advocate that a prevent...

Trust is a crucial asset for any society, and the quest to generate and uphold trust is as crucial as ever. Several contemporary societal developments are proposed as being particularly challenging for upholding and restoring the levels of trust in society, including increasing ethnic diversity, rising inequality and the related geographical segregation. It has been convincingly argued that dem...

The majority of existing trust models is based on three underlying assumptions: (i) proven identity of agents, (ii) repetitive interactions and (iii) similar trusting situations. In our work, we address these assumptions by introduction of simple classification techniques in our mechanism that extends existing trust models, rather than by introduction of a new model. The proposed approach forma...

AIM To investigate the association between political trust (an aspect of institutional trust) and self-rated health, taking generalized (horizontal) trust in other people into account. METHODS The 2004 public health survey in Skåne is a cross-sectional postal questionnaire study answered by 27,963 respondents aged 18-80 years, yielding a 59% response rate. A logistic regression model was used...

In a recent study, the authors reveal with structural equation models that the positive effect of information technology on generalized trust is mediated by political institutions. Although insightful, a key question remains: Is it the effectiveness and efficiency, the universality, and/or the power-sharing capacity of the state that mediates this effect? Drawing on new institutional economics,...

Standard measures of generalized trust in others are often taken to provide reliable indicators of economic attitudes in different countries. Here we compared three highly distinct groups, in Kenya, China and the US, in terms of more specific attitudes, [a] people's willingness to invest in the future, [b] their willingness to invest in others, and [c] their trust in institutions. Results sugge...