Table 3.

Associations between trust towards institutions (health workers (HW) and the government (Gvt)) and respondent’s wellbeing, self-reported health and mental health (PHQ-9 score)

	Well-being (1)	$\mathrm{\Delta }$ Well-being (2)	Health (3)	$\mathrm{\Delta }$ Health (4)	PHQ-9 score (5)	$\mathrm{\Delta }$ PHQ-9 score (6)
Distrust in HW	0.139	0.100	0.174	0.088	−0.101	−0.397
	(0.099)	(0.130)	(0.107)	(0.120)	(0.334)	(0.408)
Trust in HW	0.416***	0.217**	0.285***	0.181**	−0.871***	−0.425
	(0.071)	(0.092)	(0.069)	(0.082)	(0.228)	(0.268)
Observations	2130	2122	2130	2122	2130	2130
Gvt untruthful	0.108	0.132	0.243***	0.216**	−0.176	0.388
	(0.075)	(0.090)	(0.075)	(0.088)	(0.231)	(0.290)
Gvt truthful	0.351***	0.321***	0.228***	0.162**	−0.535***	0.014
	(0.063)	(0.075)	(0.064)	(0.074)	(0.199)	(0.254)
Observations	2129	2121	2129	2121	2129	2129

Note: Estimates are derived from ordered probit (columns 1 and 3) and linear (columns 2, 4, 5 and 6) regressions with robust standard errors reported in parentheses ($\ast$$p<0.1,**$$p<0.05,***$$p<0.01$). Our measure of well-being is derived from the question: “I am interested in your general level of well-being or satisfaction with life. How satisfied are you with your life, all things considered?” with possible answers ranging from 1 (“very unsatisfied”) to 5 (“very satisfied”). Subjective health is measured based on the following question: “In general, would you say your health now is”, with possible answers ranging form 1 (“poor”) to 5 (“excellent”). PHQ-9 is a multi-item instrument that is frequently used to determine the presence and severity of depressive symptoms among participants in primary care and in non-clinical settings, and is standard in most population-based surveys Kroenke et al., 2001. All regressions control for sex, age (dichotomous variables for age 19–34, 35–44, 45–54, 55–64, 65–90) and education (dichotomous variables for “never attended school”, “finished standard” and “finished form and above”), and include region and time (in days) fixed-effects. “Health” is self-reported subjective health. “Distrust in HW” combines those who strongly distrust and those who somewhat distrust HW. “Trust in HW” combines those who strongly trust and those who somewhat trust HW. The reference category represents those who neither trust nor distrust. “Government untruthful” combines those who consider the government very untruthful and somewhat untruthful. “Government truthful” combines those who consider the government very truthful and somewhat truthful. The reference category represents those who consider the government to be neither truthful nor untruthful. $\mathrm{\Delta }$ represents the change in the corresponding outcome variables.