Waco, TX, USA. Discontented individuals are no more likely to take part in political protests and vote than people who are contented with the current situation. In fact, the discontented are less likely to vote.

Those were the conclusions of researchers who had theorized the opposite: satisfied people might be less likely to vote or participate in political activities because they lack a desire for change when compared to dissatisfied people.


The study was co-authored by Dr. Patrick J. Flavin, an assistant professor of political science at Baylor University, and Michael Keane, a former graduate student at the University of Notre Dame.

Their findings appear in the Journal of Happiness Studies.Patrick Flavin and Michael Keane analyzed representative data of 1,300 respondents from the American National Election Studies (ANES), examining their voting records and scores on a participation index.

The ANES index includes such activities as volunteering for a political campaign, attending rallies, contributing to candidates, and/or contacting an elected official within the past year and displaying a yard sign, bumper sticker or political button.

The positive relationship between life satisfaction and political participation held even after controlling for income, gender, race, education and other factors, Flavin said.

However, there is little evidence from previous studies that the reverse is true — that participating in politics makes people happier. Flavin believes the authors "can say with confidence that people who reported being more satisfied with their lives are more likely to get involved in politics."

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