Intergenerational Transmission of Trust in Criminal Justice Authorities among Late Adolescents in the Netherlands

Relationships with parents, teachers, and peers can expose youth to different types of authority and legal orientations. In particular, parents are expected to play a key role in shaping youth’s perceptions of authority, as they are considered the primary agents of socialization throughout childhood and adolescence. However, few have directly assessed the intergenerational transmission of trust in authorities from parent to child and the mechanisms by which transmission is more or less effective. The current study assesses to what extent parental trust in criminal justice authorities (i.e., police and judges) is associated with trust in criminal justice authorities among a diverse sample of young adults in the Netherlands. Drawing from research on socialization and youth development, we also evaluate to what extent the quality of relationship with the parent conditions the degree of intergenerational transmission of trust in criminal justice authorities. Overall, we found that parental trust in criminal justice authorities measured when the youth were aged 19–20 was positively related to youth trust 1 year later. The quality of the relationship between parents and children was not directly related to youths’ trust in authorities, and for the most part did not moderate the effect of parent trust on youth trust.