Life course perspectives on economic stress and generalized trust in other people

• More knowledge on the association between early life conditions and trust is needed.
• The accumulation hypothesis was confirmed: childhood and adult economic stress was associated with low trust in a cumulative way.
• The critical period hypothesis was corroborated in the meaning that childhood and adult economic stress were independently associated with low trust.
• Economic stress in childhood may be of importance for trust in adulthood.

The aim is to investigate the associations between economic stress in childhood and adulthood, and low generalized trust in other people, testing two life course hypotheses. The 2008 public health survey in Scania is a cross-sectional postal/mail questionnaire study in which 28,198 persons aged 18–80 participated (55% participation in the original sample). Logistic regressions were used to analyze associations between economic stress in childhood and adulthood, and low generalized trust in other people, adjusting for demographic factors, socioeconomic/occupational status, and emotional and instrumental aspects of social support. A 33.9% proportion of the men and 35.7% of the women reported low trust. Trust was significantly associated with all variables included in the models. Economic stress in childhood remained significantly associated with low trust even when economic stress in adulthood was included in the critical period models. The critical period hypothesis regarding trust was corroborated in the meaning that economic stress in childhood and adulthood were independently associated with low trust. However, it was not corroborated in the meaning that a specific time window had a particularly high association with trust. The accumulation hypothesis was confirmed: increased combined childhood and adulthood exposure to economic stress was significantly associated with low trust in a cumulative way. Economic stress in childhood may be of importance for trust in others in adulthood.