Well-being and environmental quality: Does pollution affect life satisfaction?

Purpose We aimed to explore the effect of ambient air pollution on individual persons' levels of subjective well-being. Our research question was: to what extent is an individual's life satisfaction shaped by exposure to PM₁₀? Methods We used regression models to analyse data on subjective...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Quality of life research Vol. 25; no. 3; pp. 699 - 705
Main Authors:	Orru, Kati, Orru, Hans, Maasikmets, Marek, Hendrikson, Reigo, Ainsaar, Mare
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Cham Springer 01-03-2016 Springer International Publishing Springer Nature B.V
Subjects:	Air pollutants Air Pollutants - adverse effects Air pollution Air Pollution - adverse effects Air quality Brief Communication Environment Environmental conditions Environmental pollution Environmental quality Gender Happiness Humans Life satisfaction Male Medicine Medicine & Public Health Models, Theoretical Noise Noise pollution Outdoor air quality Particulate matter Particulate Matter - adverse effects Personal Satisfaction Pollutants Psychological stress Public Health Quality of Life Quality of Life Research Regression analysis Social research Sociology Subjective health assessment Well being Wellbeing Air quality Subjective health assessment Environmental pollution Life satisfaction
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Summary:	Purpose We aimed to explore the effect of ambient air pollution on individual persons' levels of subjective well-being. Our research question was: to what extent is an individual's life satisfaction shaped by exposure to PM₁₀? Methods We used regression models to analyse data on subjective well-being indicators from the last two waves of the European social survey (ESS) and detailed information on local levels of the air pollutant PM₁₀. Results An increase in PM₁₀ annual concentrations by 1 µg/m³ was associated with a significant reduction in life satisfaction of .017 points on the ESS 10-point life satis faction scale. Conclusions Our findings suggest that even in cases of relatively low levels of PM₁₀ air pollution (mean annual concentration of 8.3 ± 3.9 µg/m³), in addition to the effects on physical health, exposure negatively affects subjective assessments of well-being.
ISSN:	0962-9343 1573-2649 1573-2649
DOI:	10.1007/s11136-015-1104-6