This thesis aims to extend the existing knowledge-base on trust and cooperation development during adolescence and early adulthood, but also on the
specific methods to study it, particularly as it relates to mental health and the family processes that influence it.
A series of empirical studies are presented which draw from a broad range of theoretical and methodological approaches including evolutionary theory and evolutionary psychology, attachment theory, game theory, and developmental psychology and psychopathology.
In Chapter 2, game theory and economic games as well as traditional psychometric questionnaires and simple decision-making indices
are employed in comparative study of operationalisations of trust and cooperation. Various operationalisations of the multi-round Trust Game are used against the suspiciousness scale of the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire as an external measure of mistrust.
Following this, in Chapter 3, multivariate models of parenting and their concurrent and longitudinal outcomes of internalising symptomatology in individuals aged 14-24 years old are explored. Using a data-driven exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, finally, a hierarchical model of parenting factors is estimated. The factor scores are then used as predictors of the latent growth curve of concurrent and prospective internalising scores.
Chapter 4 explores how parenting factors are associated with cooperative behaviour and trust in the multi-round Trust Task after having accounted for age, gender, IQ, and socio-economic status. Lastly, Chapter 5 addresses the hypothesis that adolescents and young adults with a higher ability to cooperate and engage in mutually beneficial interactions might be less vulnerable to the development of psychopathology in the future
