political dissatisfaction
Definition
Political dissatisfaction refers to negative evaluations of how the political system performs, representing one dimension of the broader construct of political alienation alongside political distrust and powerlessness. It is distinguished from the other dimensions in that it concerns judgments about systemic functioning rather than confidence in institutions or perceived personal influence over political processes. Among Swedish adolescents tracked from ages 13 to 17, within-person increases in political dissatisfaction were associated with concurrent increases in radical political behavior, and dissatisfaction accounted for 15% of the variance in radicalism at the within-person level. Uniquely among the three alienation dimensions, dissatisfaction showed a reciprocal over-time dynamic with radicalization in a Random Intercept Cross Lagged Panel Model, meaning that dissatisfaction and radical behavior reinforced one another across time rather than one simply preceding the other. Gender moderated this relationship, with the effect of dissatisfaction on radicalism stronger for boys than for girls (B = 0.07, p = .001).
Sources: Miklikowska & Besta (2026)
Related Terms
- adolescence (1 shared article)
- political trust (1 shared article)
- radical political behavior (1 shared article)
- radicalism (1 shared article)
- radicalization (1 shared article)
- political alienation (1 shared article)
- political powerlessness (1 shared article)
Applications
Political Dissatisfaction and Political Radicalism
Political dissatisfaction predicts concurrent radical political behavior at the within-person level, such that adolescents who feel more dissatisfied than usual also engage in more radical behavior at the same time. Beyond this concurrent association, a cross-lagged panel model revealed that dissatisfaction and radicalism mutually reinforce one another over time, a reciprocal dynamic not observed for political distrust or powerlessness.
Sources: Miklikowska & Besta (2026)
Political Dissatisfaction and Political Alienation
Political dissatisfaction is one of three components constituting political alienation, the others being political distrust and powerlessness. The three components are theorized as related but distinct, capturing different ways individuals experience estrangement from the political system, and they do not need to be simultaneously present for alienation to occur.
Sources: Miklikowska & Besta (2026)
Political Dissatisfaction and Gender
The association between political dissatisfaction and radical political behavior is significantly stronger for male adolescents than for female adolescents. This gender difference held across all three dimensions of political alienation examined in the study, with dissatisfaction showing a moderation effect of B = 0.07 (p = .001).
Sources: Miklikowska & Besta (2026)
