Digital media use intensity, cross-border relational ties and generalized social trust: occupational network heterogeneity and neighborhood social embeddedness in contemporary China.

Authors

Tuo Zhang, Peng Li, Akmar Hayati Ahmad Ghazali, Nur Atirah Kamaruzaman, Shougui Pang

Published in

Frontiers in sociology. Volume 11. Pages 1911185. Epub Oct 13, 2026.

Abstract

Drawing on data from the CGSS 2023 household survey, this study examines how digital media use intensity and cross-border relational ties are associated with generalized social trust through two relational pathways: occupational network heterogeneity and neighborhood social embeddedness. Integrating baseline association models, indirect relational pathway analyses, and robustness checks, this study investigates whether relational expansion and relational embeddedness provide different foundations for generalized trust formation. The results show that digital media use intensity is negatively associated with generalized social trust, whereas cross-border relational ties do not exhibit a significant direct association with generalized social trust. Both digital media use intensity and cross-border relational ties are positively associated with occupational network heterogeneity, indicating broader opportunities for heterogeneous contacts rather than direct evidence of generalized trust formation. However, occupational network heterogeneity is not significantly associated with generalized social trust. In contrast, neighborhood social embeddedness is positively associated with generalized social trust and is involved in a significant indirect association linking digital media use intensity to generalized social trust. Although statistically significant, these associations are modest in magnitude, suggesting that relational conditions explain only a limited proportion of variation in generalized social trust. These findings suggest that the expansion of relational boundaries does not automatically translate into generalized trust. Instead, repeated interaction, mutual support, and locally embedded relational experiences may provide a more stable foundation through which individuals extend trust beyond immediate social circles.

PMID:
42947798
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 28 Oct 2026.

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