We examine how individuals’ interactions with the shifting contemporary communication ecology—either by seeking information selectively from partisan sources or immersing themselves in a broad range of partisan communications — relate to shifting levels of social trust and online engagement. Using national panel surveys of young adults (i.e., millennials age 18–34) collected over the 2016 U.S. presidential election, we find that individuals’ partisan communication flows—calculated by algorithmically combining patterns of news consumption, social media use, and political talk—explain: (a) polarized shifts in levels of trust towards people of other nationalities, religions, races, and ethnicities and (b) increases in levels of online political engagement. By elaborating the relationship between citizens’ communication patterns and their levels of trust and participation, this research forces a reconsideration of theoretical traditions in the field of communication, especially those linking mass and interpersonal processes in the study of social capital.

中文翻译：

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打破“良性循环”：党派沟通如何侵蚀社会信任但推动参与

我们研究了个人与不断变化的当代传播生态的互动——无论是通过有选择地从党派来源中寻找信息，还是让自己沉浸在广泛的党派交流中——与社会信任和在线参与水平的变化有关。使用在 2016 年美国总统大选期间收集的针对年轻人（即 18-34 岁的千禧一代）的全国小组调查，我们发现个人的党派交流流——通过算法结合新闻消费、社交媒体使用和政治谈话的模式计算得出——解释：(a) 对其他国籍、宗教、种族和民族的人的信任水平两极分化，以及 (b) 在线政治参与水平的提高。