Analysis of the role of self-efficacy and interpersonal relationships in the relationship between subjective family socio-economic status and college students’ trust character: a case study of a university in Shaanxi Province, China

Trust can assist college students in navigating the challenges of loss during their growth and development, ultimately facilitating their personal growth and well-being. From the perspective of virtue, this study proposes a new concept of “trust character”, which reveals the relationship between subjective family socioeconomic status and college students’ trust character through self-efficacy and interpersonal communication. In this study, 1211 college students from a university in Shaanxi Province were surveyed by stratified sampling using the Subjective Family Socioeconomic Status Scale, the Self-Efficacy Scale, the Interpersonal Interaction Scale, and the Trust Character Scale. The results showed that subjective family socioeconomic status was significantly positively correlated with self-efficacy (r = 0.161), interpersonal communication (r = 0.193), and trust character (r = 0.160). Self-efficacy was positively correlated with interpersonal communication (r = 0.461) and trust character (r = 0.616). Interpersonal communication was positively correlated with trust character (r = 0.492). The direct and indirect effects of subjective family socioeconomic status on college students’ trust character were significant, including the mediating value of self-efficacy was 0.080 (61.07%), the mediating value of interpersonal communication was 0.032 (24.43%), and the chain mediating value of self-efficacy and interpersonal communication was 0.019 (effect size) was 14.50%.The research shows that the trust character of college students is composed of three dimensions: trust yourself, trust others, trust people. Self-efficacy and interpersonal communication not only play an independent mediating role but also play a chain mediating role between subjective family socioeconomic status and college students’ trust character.