The Social Underpinnings of Trust in Physicians

Abstract

The past few years have seen the emergence of a research literature dedicated to defining and understanding trust in physicians. Much of this research, however, focuses on a narrow set of explanations for the generation of physician trust. The purpose of this chapter is to expand on research by introducing new ideas to the study of physician trust. Employing data from the 1998 General Social Survey, the chapter shows that social resources, vulnerability in finances and in perceptions about the end of life, and exposure to unstable environments all are fairly consistent predictors of physician trust.

Citation

Musick, M.A. and Worthen, M.G.F. (2007), "The Social Underpinnings of Trust in Physicians", Jacobs Kronenfeld, J. (Ed.) Inequalities and Disparities in Health Care and Health: Concerns of Patients, Providers and Insurers (Research in the Sociology of Health Care, Vol. 25), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 97-123. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0275-4959(07)00005-1