Perceived Relational Mobility is Associated with Generalized Trust but not Intimacy: A Survey of Individuals from the U.S. and Japan

Relational mobility, the degree of opportunity to form new relationships in a particular environment, explains cultural differences in interpersonal behavior. Theoretically, relational mobility is thought to be related to the contrasting tendencies in social networks: expansion of relationships (i.e., trust) and commitment to existing relationships (i.e., intimacy). This study reexamined whether perceived relational mobility is associated with the formation and maintenance of social networks. A cross-cultural survey was conducted with 299 American and 298 Japanese people. We investigated the correlations between generalized trust, intimacy with friends, self-disclosure, and the number of social networks. Consistent with previous studies, this study found that Americans are more likely than Japanese to trust strangers, feel intimate with and disclose themselves to their closest friends, and have more relationships. Perceived relational mobility explained the cultural difference in generalized trust but not in intimacy with friends when controlling for other individual characteristics. Generalized trust was associated with a greater number of people to seek advice from, and a greater number of advice networks correlated with higher levels of well-being. The results suggest that relational mobility is associated with psychology related to expanding networks, rather than strengthening existing relationships.