# What kinds of government trust structures affect political participation? Evidence from Chinese Youth Netizens

## TL;DR

This paper explores how different types of trust in government affect Chinese youth's political participation, both online and offline.

## Contribution

The study introduces subjective well-being as a mediator and reveals how trust structures differentially impact online versus offline political participation.

## Key findings

- Paradoxical government trust has the strongest reinforcing effect on political participation.
- Subjective well-being's positive impact on participation varies by trust structure.
- Online political participation is less influenced by government trust structures than offline participation.

## Abstract

Based on 2018 research data on Chinese netizens’ social awareness, this paper examines how different government trust structures influence youth netizens’ political participation. The findings indicate that the reinforcing effect of government trust on political participation follows a declining order: paradoxical government trust, equal trust, hierarchical government trust, and equal distrust. In this context, subjective well-being is introduced as a mediating variable. The results show that the positive impact of subjective well-being on political participation varies across different trust structures, decreasing in the following order: equal trust holders, paradoxical government trust holders, hierarchical government trust holders, and equal distrust holders. Furthermore, heterogeneity analysis reveals that the negative impact of equal distrust and hierarchical government trust is weaker on online political participation than on offline political participation, while paradoxical government trust has a stronger positive effect online than offline. Overall, the influence of government trust structure is weaker for online political participation than for offline political participation.