Why declining trust is everyone's problem

Yahoo

21-05-2025

This article was first published in the State of Faith newsletter. Sign up to receive the newsletter in your inbox each Monday night.
I think my husband and I have adjusted pretty well to the demands of parenting over the past five years.
We go to bed earlier, keep more fruit in the fridge and play with bubbles a lot more now than we did when it was just the two of us at home.
What we struggle with is taking breaks from parenting, even though we know it would be good for us to have date nights or lean into hobbies that have nothing to do with our kids. We talk about going out but then quickly drop the idea when it's time to find a babysitter.
I know from conversations I've had with mom friends that our struggle is not unique. Across the country, parents without close friends or relatives nearby worry about leaving their kids with a near-stranger, despite the fact that parents have been doing just that for decades.
Last week, as I read a new report on trust from Pew Research Center, I realized that the recent surge in anxiety about babysitters likely stems, at least in part, from a broader surge in distrust.
Today, just one-third of U.S. adults (34%) say most people can be trusted. That's down from 46% in 1972.
That data point bums me out even though I'm part of the problem. Pew's research showed that I'm right to assume that declining trust creates big problems — and not just for young parents.
'Trust is the oil that lubricates the frictions of daily life,' researchers wrote. In its absence, people are less likely to help their neighbors and friends.
An absence of trust can also lead to dissatisfaction with life.
'People who say most people can be trusted report greater life satisfaction than those who say you can't be too careful. They tend to report being happier, more satisfied with their health and more likely to describe their family life as excellent or very good,' Pew found.
Here are some other findings from the trust survey that stood out to me:
White Americans are more trusting than non-white Americans and older Americans are more trusting than younger ones.
Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are among the most trusting people of faith in the U.S. Nearly half (48%) of Latter-day Saints say most people can be trusted, compared to 35% of Catholics, 51% of Jews and 28% of Muslims, the survey showed.
On a related note, Utah is among the country's most trusting states. Around half of adult Utahns say most people can be trusted, Pew found.
Pew's study has prompted me to do some soul-searching — and at least entertain the idea of a kid-free date night.
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