3-187 - Trust and Youth Development in Latin America: Findings from Colombia, Honduras, and Nicaragua

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Youths’ tendency to trust others has been typically studied in the context of friendships and other close relationships (e.g., Rotenberg & Boulton, 2013). As such, less is known about adolescents’ broader experiences of trust and security in their social milieu, particularly in societies affected by violence and injustice. This symposium explores how youths’ expectations regarding the fairness and integrity of people and institutions within their lives are related to other aspects of their development, including civic self-efficacy, preferred approaches to conflict resolution, and understandings and judgments of violence in their communities. Drawing from studies conducted in Colombia, Nicaragua, and Honduras, the papers included in this symposium examine the links between social practices, political climates, and young people’s social reasoning about them. Collectively, the studies include a broad range of ages (10-18 years), comprise diverse samples at crucial historical moments, and integrate a variety of quantitative and qualitative methodological approaches. Furthermore, the papers address different facets of trust and security, situated within varied environmental challenges at the macro and micro levels, including corruption scandals, economic and social inequality, and exposure to violence. Altogether, findings point to a complex view of youths’ understandings of their social, moral, and political worlds and the different ways that they have learned to navigate them. The discussion will tie together overarching themes across the three papers, highlight how adolescents’ levels of interpersonal and institutional trust are interwoven with developmental outcomes across domains, and consider the cultural and historical contexts within which these patterns emerge.

Sub Unit

• Moral Development

Chair

• Holly Recchia, Concordia University

Discussant

• Cecilia Wainryb, University of Utah

Individual Presentations

• Colombian Adolescents’ Trust and Civic Self-Efficacy Amid Political Challenges - Presenting Author: Gabriel Velez, University of Chicago; Non-Presenting Author: Ryan Knowles, Utah State University

• Colombian Adolescents’ Trust in Others: Links to Reasoning About Retributive and Restorative Justice - Presenting Author: Angelica Restrepo, Concordia University; Non-Presenting Author: Holly Recchia, Concordia University

• Honduran and Nicaraguan Youths’ Reasoning About Gang-Related Violence as a Threat to Trust Within Communities - Presenting Author: Franklin Moreno, University of California, Berkeley