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Cross-cultural measurement equivalence of generalized trust. Evidence from the European Social Survey (2002 and 2004)

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Abstract

Generalized trust features as the most prominent attitudinal element of social capital, and as such the concept is widely used in comparative research. In this article we investigate the cross-cultural equivalence of the three-item scale on generalized trust that is included in the European Social Survey 2002 and 2004 waves. The use of metric equivalence tests demonstrates that these tree items can be considered as a reliable and cross-culturally valid concept. If we apply the stricter scalar equivalence test, however, the result is that the scale is not sufficiently equivalent across European societies, with especially the item on expecting help from others showing major problems in a number of countries. We close this article by offering some suggestions on how the generalized trust scale might be used in a (sufficiently) reliable manner in cross-cultural research across Europe.

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Notes

  1. The countries in the first wave are Austria, Belgium, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Germany, Denmark, Spain, Finland, France, United Kingdom, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Israel, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Sweden and Slovenia. We did not include Israel in this analysis, because that country has a number of very distinct social characteristics, compared to all other European ESS-countries.

  2. Italy and Israel are not included in the second wave while Estonia, Iceland, Slovakia and Ukraine are the four new countries in the second wave of the ESS.

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  1. Tim Reeskens & Marc Hooghe

    Present address: Centre for Citizenship and Democracy, Catholic University of Leuven, E van Evenstraat 2B, Leuven, 3000, Belgium

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  1. Department of Political Science, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

    Tim Reeskens & Marc Hooghe

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  1. Tim Reeskens
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  2. Marc Hooghe
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Correspondence to Tim Reeskens.

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Reeskens, T., Hooghe, M. Cross-cultural measurement equivalence of generalized trust. Evidence from the European Social Survey (2002 and 2004). Soc Indic Res 85, 515–532 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-007-9100-z

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