Institutional Trust and Generation Z: What Characteristics Predict Variation?

• In Event: US Democracy: An Assessment

Abstract

Trust in institutions has been steadily declining in the United States over the past few decades. Historically low levels of public confidence in recent years coincide with the emergence of a new generation (Gen Z). To what extent does this new generation trust institutions, including government, higher education, and the media? What factors aid or impede the degree to which this new generation trusts these institutions to solve contemporary challenges, to foster skills and dispositions to resolve these challenges, as well to provide information related to them? An assessment of these factors is of keen importance as this generation has the potential to hold tremendous political and social power. Our paper will report initial findings and discuss implications based on data from an original, nationally representative survey.

Authors

• Eleni M Mantas-Kourounis, Sacred Heart University

• Todd Matthews, Sacred Heart University