Neighborly Trust is Up

From USA Today:

Americans are a neighborly lot — and increasingly so, according to a national study that finds 76% trust most or some of their neighbors, 44% talk to them frequently and 65% exchange favors.

Now in its third year, the Civic Life in America report, released today, asked about trust of neighbors for the first time. Of the 81,355 people 18 and older surveyed by telephone, 41% trust most neighbors and another 35% trust some; 9% don’t trust anyone in their neighborhood while 16% say they trust them all.

“People certainly crave trust, and, in a cynical world, you will tend to more trust people within your tribe — they would do what we would do,” says Robert Hurley, a professor of management at Fordham University in New York. “Often in neighborhoods, we have a view that people are like us and are therefore trustworthy.”…

The survey also finds that interactions among neighbors have increased. Among those who said they talked with neighbors, (from less than once a month to every day) 87% said they did so in 2011, compared to 81% in 2009. Doing favors — such as babysitting, house sitting, lending items or helping with shopping — also rose from 56% in 2009 to 65%.