Date of Award

2001

Level of Access Assigned by Author

Open-Access Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Human Development

Advisor

Robert Milardo

Second Committee Member

Marc D. Baranowski

Third Committee Member

Barbara Howard

Abstract

Trust has been related to both attachment theory and exchange orientation. However, the research has not yet addressed whether or not attachment styles are related to exchange orientation, and if they are related, in what way. Attachment theory is divided into two concepts: view of self and view of others. This research was' designed to test whether trust was a mediating variable between view of others and exchange orientation. The measurements were distributed to college students at The University of Maine including the Adult Style Questionnaire, The Trust Scale, and The Revised Exchange Orientation Scale. In all, 94 students returned the survey fully completed, for a return rate of 15.6%. Females constituted 76% of the participants. View of others was found to be significantly correlated with trust, and trust was strongly correlated with exchange orientation, but no relationship between view of others and exchange orientation was found. According to these results, trust cannot be a mediating variable, since there appears to be no relationship between the two concepts without trust. The possible causes for this are discussed.

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