The early childhood generalized trust belief scale

The study was designed to develop and evaluate the Early Childhood Generalized Trust Belief Scale (ECGTBS) as a method of assessing 5-to-8-year-olds’ generalized trust. Two hundred and eleven (103 male and 108 female) children (mean age 6 years and 2 months at Time 1) completed the ECGTBS twice over a year. A subsample of participants completed the ECGTBS after two weeks to assess the scale’s test-retest reliability. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses confirmed that the ECGTBS assessed the expected three factors: reliability, emotional trust, and honesty with item-pairs loading most strongly on their corresponding factor. However, the ECGTBS demonstrated low to modest internal consistency and test-retest reliability which indicates a need for further development of this instrument. As evidence for the convergent validity of the ECGTBS, the reliability and emotional trust items were associated with the children’s trust in classmates at Time 2. Concurrent asymmetric quadratic relationships indicated the importance of midrange generalized trust. Specifically, children with very high generalized trust experienced greater loneliness and children with very low generalized trust had fewer friendships than children with midrange trust

Does country context matter? Investigating the predictors of teen sexting across Europe

Despite growing research interest in sexting, not much is known about individual and country differences in engaging in sexting. Therefore, the aims of this study were to investigate (a) which individual and country characteristics explain sexting and (b) whether individual predictors vary across countries. On the individual level, we investigated age, gender, sensation seeking, and internet use. On the country level, we investigated traditionalism, gross domestic product, and broadband internet penetration. The sample consisted of 14,946 adolescents (49.7% boys) aged 11-16 from 20 European countries. Data were collected as part of the EU Kids Online project. Participants were interviewed at home. Using multilevel modeling, findings indicate that on the individual level, age, sensation seeking, and frequency of internet use predicted sexting across all countries. Gender differences in sexting varied across countries. Although country characteristics (GDP, broadband internet penetration, traditional values) had no direct effect on adolescent sexting, traditionalism significantly predicted gender differences in sexting. In more traditional countries, gender differences were more pronounced than in less traditional countries, with more boys than girls engaging in sexting. In less traditional countries, gender differences were smaller