Flirting with faith : a study on trust and faith using gender

Abstract

Trust is ranked amongst the highest desired qualities when searching for a mate. Yet despite its importance to an interpersonal relationship, relatively little has been done in terms of researching this topic. Here, a viewpoint is expressed, two hypotheses created, and a survey conducted to test trust's validity with respect to gender. Included in this thesis are three components of trust: faith, dependability, and predictability. Faith is looked at in depth and is predicted as the most important component of trust for both genders. A likert-type scale replicating part of the trust scale created by Rempel, Holmes, and Zanna was used, and the results do not support the hypothesis that faith is more important to men than women in close interpersonal relationships. What is supported is the second hypothesis which states that faith is the most important component of trust in general for both genders. Delving into this unexplored topic will show the need for further attention.