Trust and mortality in the contemporary United States

Among nations with high wealth and development, all-cause mortality rates are the highest in the USA. This excessive mortality is evident for both men and women, and for all age groups except for the oldest old.1 Public health experts increasingly recognise that this remarkable failure is much more than a matter of patchy healthcare coverage, growing socioeconomic disadvantage and changing ethnic composition.1 Although these characteristics undoubtedly set the USA apart from its peers, other facets of society are also important for people’s health in the USA. It is widely accepted that social relationships influence health and longevity2; and among US adults, generalised trust recently reached its lowest level since 1972.3 Highly dependent on the social context, generalised trust is markedly lower in the USA than in many European countries.3 Trust—the belief that the sincerity, benevolence or truthfulness of others can…

Read the full article ›