| Description |
Childhood trauma is associated with greater risk for social and emotional problems as well as higher prevalence of chronic diseases and physical ailments. Trauma also results in enhanced mistrust in relationships and general mistrust. The present research used a physical education setting to explore the relationship between perceptions of a caring climate and trust, and to assess the moderating effects of childhood trauma on the links between a caring climate and trust. An organizational model of trust provided a framework for the relationships of key concepts. A survey including the Caring Climate Scale (CCS), a Proxy Measure of Trauma (PMT), and the Trust Inventory (TI) was used to collect data from array of youth (n = 76) in physical education courses. Simple correlations found a significant positive relationship between perceptions of a caring climate and trust (R = .481, p < .001). A blocked hierarchical regression was used to further assess the relationship between perceptions of a caring climate and trust, as well as to determine the moderating effects of trauma. The blocked hierarchical regression supported the predictive validity of perceptions of a caring climate on trust (R2 = .231, β = .481, F = 21.36, p < .001). The model also supported trauma as a significant moderating variable between the link of perceptions of a caring climate and trust (R2 = .324, β = - .335, F = 11.88, p = .001). The findings suggest that perceptions of a caring climate positively influence trust. However, higher levels of trauma appear to attenuate the influence perceptions of a caring climate has on trust. |
