OBJECTIVE:Nurse educators need an enhanced understanding of factors contributing to nursing student success to decrease attrition and increase retention. Improved understanding of factors related to successful nurse preparation could improve educational processes and facilitate student success, thereby addressing the worldwide nursing shortage as well as increasing the competence and expertise of new graduates. Student-faculty trust and related characteristics have been identified as factors associated with student success (Applebaum, 1995). Research investigating trust in communications and education has been conducted with students in other disciplines but not with nursing students. This research investigated the complex relationships between students' trust in faculty, the students' mood states, and students' educational performance and outcomes. METHOD:The study utilized a quantitative, cross-sectional, descriptive, and correlational design. Student volunteers were recruited from a baccalaureate nursing education program located in the southwest United States. Participants completed three instruments: the Health Sciences Reasoning Test (HSRT), Profile of Mood States (POMS), and Interpersonal Trust Scale (ITS). The resulting scores were compared and contrasted along with selected demographic variables. RESULTS:The study identified a significant relationship between total mood disturbance and interpersonal trust. The trends in the POMS subscales of Anger and Confusion are of particular interest, as the two factors strongly influenced shifts in Total Mood Disturbance. As students progressed through the nursing program, experiences of Anger and Confusion increased with each progressive semester and were accompanied by corresponding decreases in trust. CONCLUSIONS:The results complement established findings relating mood and cognitive function. Alterations in the student's level of trust potentially could share relationships with cognition and critical thinking, although perhaps not in a direct and linear fashion.