Summary: A large-scale analysis of more than 24,000 people in the UK shows that childhood disadvantage alters how cognitive ability converts into social benefits. The study finds that growing up in difficult circumstances reduces both adult trust and the extent to which intelligence leads to greater trust, potentially reinforcing inequality across generations.
Higher cognitive ability is generally linked with greater trust in others, but this research shows that for those raised in disadvantaged environments, the positive effect of intelligence on trust is substantially weaker. In other words, intelligence does not yield the same social returns for everyone: early adversity appears to blunt the “intelligence-to-trust” pathway that helps people form relationships and access social and economic opportunities.
Key Facts
- Childhood Disadvantage and Trust: Experiencing disadvantage in childhood—such as living in workless households, single-parent homes, or care settings, or having parents with low educational or occupational status—is associated with lower cognitive performance and markedly reduced trust in adulthood.
- The Intelligence Gap: Among people from advantaged backgrounds, higher cognitive ability is strongly associated with trust. For those who experienced childhood disadvantage, the effect of the same cognitive ability on trust is roughly half as large.
- The “Matthew Effect”: The findings reflect a pattern where early advantages compound over time: children who begin life with more support not only develop stronger skills but also receive greater social returns from those skills later on.
- Environmental Learning: In stable, supportive settings, people with higher cognitive ability learn that trusting others can be socially and economically rewarding. In harsher, unstable environments—where crime, institutional unreliability, or persistent stress are more common—there are fewer opportunities for trust to pay off, and intelligence is less likely to translate into cooperative behavior.
Source: University of Bath
A new paper by Professor Chris Dawson, published in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, finds that childhood disadvantage is linked not only to lower adult cognitive ability but also to lower levels of trust in other people.
Using a nationally representative UK sample of over 24,000 people, Professor Dawson and colleagues examined how early-life conditions shape both cognitive development and generalized trust later in life. Childhood disadvantage was coded from several indicators—living in workless households, growing up with a single parent, being raised in care, or having parents with low educational or occupational status. Individuals who experienced two or more forms of disadvantage were significantly less likely to report trusting others as adults.
Past research has shown that people with higher cognitive ability tend to be more trusting and cooperative. One reason is that greater cognitive capacity helps individuals recognise the long-term social and economic advantages of trust, and it enables them to override immediate fear or scepticism in uncertain situations. The new study confirms a positive overall association between cognitive ability and generalized trust, but it also shows that this link is markedly weaker among those who faced childhood disadvantage.
Professor Dawson, from the University’s School of Management, commented that the findings challenge the assumption that intelligence produces equal social outcomes for everyone. He noted that children raised in difficult circumstances not only tend to develop lower cognitive skills, but those skills also appear less likely to yield the relational and institutional benefits that come from trust. Because trust supports relationship building, organisational success, and civic participation, reduced social returns to cognitive ability may help perpetuate social immobility.
Two mechanisms may explain the pattern. First, stable and supportive childhood environments create conditions in which learning that trust is adaptive is more likely: cooperation is often rewarded, and institutions tend to be reliable. Second, harsher environments can limit opportunities for that learning; exposure to instability, crime, and unreliable institutions may teach caution over cooperation. Moreover, the lasting stress and anxiety associated with early adversity may constrain how cognitive skills are expressed in social settings.
The study’s results remained robust after adjusting for current socioeconomic factors, suggesting that the long-term effects of childhood conditions extend beyond present income or education. The researchers also found parallel patterns across countries: in high-income nations the association between cognitive ability and trust was stronger, while it weakened in lower-income contexts, supporting the idea that environmental stability moderates social returns to intelligence.
These findings point to policy implications beyond raising educational attainment or income alone. To improve life chances and reduce intergenerational inequality, interventions should also address the emotional and social environments in which children grow up. Stable, secure, and supportive early environments may be essential for allowing cognitive skills to translate into the social trust that underpins cooperation, economic opportunity, and civic life.
Key Questions Answered:
A: In unstable or harsh environments, intelligence may be harnessed for caution and survival rather than cooperation. Early experiences of unreliable people or institutions can lead people to prioritise self-protection over trusting strategies, even when trust could be beneficial in other contexts.
A: The study used indicators such as living in workless households, single-parent families, being in care, and having parents with low education or occupational status. Those exposed to two or more of these factors were far less likely to report trusting others as adults.
A: Similar patterns were observed internationally: the link between cognitive ability and trust is stronger in high-income countries and substantially weaker in lower-income countries, consistent with the moderating role of environmental stability.
Editorial Notes:
- This article was edited by a Neuroscience News editor.
- Journal paper reviewed in full.
- Additional context added by staff to clarify implications.
About this social neuroscience and intelligence research news
Author: Lynn Li
Source: University of Bath
Contact: Lynn Li – University of Bath
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News
Original Research: Open access. “What Childhood Leaves Behind: Cognitive Ability and Trust in Adulthood” by Chris Dawson. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. DOI: 10.1177/01461672261439412
Abstract
What Childhood Leaves Behind: Cognitive Ability and Trust in Adulthood
This study challenges the assumption that cognitive ability uniformly predicts prosocial traits. Using a nationally representative UK sample (N = 24,140), the research tests a model in which childhood disadvantage is associated with generalized trust both directly and indirectly via cognitive ability, and where childhood disadvantage also moderates the relationship between cognitive ability and trust. The analysis finds that childhood disadvantage correlates with lower performance across memory, verbal fluency, fluid reasoning, and numerical reasoning, as well as with reduced generalized trust in adulthood. While cognitive ability is generally positively associated with trust, that association is significantly weaker among individuals who experienced childhood disadvantage. These results hold after accounting for current socioeconomic status, suggesting that early-life conditions shape both cognitive development and the social returns on cognitive skills, with implications for social mobility and inequality.