In order to be effective, individuals working in distributed teams must learn to trust one another. Trust is a broad term with many operationalizations, yet recent research has supported the notion that there are two important facets of trust for individuals working in teams: affect-based and cognition-based (McAllister, 1995). Although theory assumes the facets evolve at a consistent rate over time (McAllistar, 1995; Wilson, Straus, & McEvily, 2006) there have been no empirical tests of this assumption. We modeled the latent growth of trust over time within individuals who are members of distributed teams. Employing latent change score (LCS) models (an integration of multi-level and structural equation modeling; Ferrer & McArdle, 2011; McArdle, 2009), we demonstrate the ability to identify the dimensionality of trust, quantify its initial level and rate of change over time within individuals, and link it to effectiveness. Working in teams of three, 297 individuals completed three parallel scenarios involving search and rescue in the Antarctic using Aptima's DDD simulator and a scenarios originally developed by NASA. Trust is measured at four points, first using an initial measure and then after the completion of each task. Confirmatory factor analysis established the validity of affect-based and cognition-based trust factors. For each of the trust factors, a full LCS model was tested along with a theoretically plausible alternative model where effectiveness has no influence on change in trust. For both cognition-based and affect-based trust, the full LCS model fit well (Affect-based χ2 (242)=997, NFI=.967, TLI=.970, CFI=.977; Cognition-based χ2(242)=1,045, NFI=.965, TLI=.966, CFI=.975) and significantly better than the alternative models (nested model comparisons: Affect-based χ2 (3)= 403, p < .001; Cognition-based χ2 (3) = 215, p < .001). Our work provides several theoretical contributions: addressing the dimensionality of trust, its initial level in individuals, rate of latent growth over time, and impact on effectiveness. Results speak directly to practical issues found in distributed work teams in both the civilian and military sectors.