Article ID: 2019-B009
Previous studies show that the level of general trust in China is higher than in Japan, but the reason has not been explained sufficiently. In this study, I seek to explain this cultural difference in terms of trust among indirect friends and expectations of self-disclosure. I predicted that trust among indirect friends and expectations of self-disclosure would be higher in China, which would result in a higher level of general trust. Eighty-eight Chinese high school students and 63 Japanese undergraduate students completed my questionnaire. I replicated the cultural differences in the level of general trust. However, relational mobility, which explained cultural differences in the level of general trust in previous studies, did not explain my data. There were no cultural differences in trust among indirect friends, and expectations of self-disclosure were not higher in China. Ultimately, I failed to find an explanation for the cultural difference of general trust.
