TY - JOUR
T1 - Effect of ambient air quality on subjective well-being among Chinese working adults
AU - Guo, Wei
AU - Chen, Lijuan
AU - Fan, Youqing
AU - Liu, Miaomiao
AU - Jiang, Fei
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - In the context of rapid urbanization and climate change in China, it is especially important to understand the effects of air quality on the subjective well-being of working adults because of their prolonged exposure to air pollutants. This study examines the relationship between ambient air pollutant emission levels and the subjective well-being of working adults using multilevel regression models based on a multilevel matching dataset formulated from the 2016 China Labor-Force Dynamics Survey, the 2016 China City Statistical Yearbook, and the 3rd-Quarter 2016 air pollution index released by the China National Environmental Monitoring Centre. In particular, we examine whether these air pollutants affect subjective well-being and compare the results by age, population density, and regional settings in China. The results show that increased CO emissions compromise the happiness of working adults (ß= -0.1574, p < 0.05 for happiness; ß = -0.1759, p < 0.01 for life satisfaction). This negative effect is substantially ameliorated among older working adults (ß = 0.002), but is significantly stronger in medium-density (ß = -0.2521 for happiness; ß = -0.2451 for life satisfaction) and high-density cities (ß = -0.3997 for happiness; ß = -0.5736 for life satisfaction). In addition, CO emissions have less effect on life satisfaction for adult workers living in western China (ß = -0.1051). The findings of this study have a strong potential to help policymakers improve the quality of life of residents through better-targeted approaches.
AB - In the context of rapid urbanization and climate change in China, it is especially important to understand the effects of air quality on the subjective well-being of working adults because of their prolonged exposure to air pollutants. This study examines the relationship between ambient air pollutant emission levels and the subjective well-being of working adults using multilevel regression models based on a multilevel matching dataset formulated from the 2016 China Labor-Force Dynamics Survey, the 2016 China City Statistical Yearbook, and the 3rd-Quarter 2016 air pollution index released by the China National Environmental Monitoring Centre. In particular, we examine whether these air pollutants affect subjective well-being and compare the results by age, population density, and regional settings in China. The results show that increased CO emissions compromise the happiness of working adults (ß= -0.1574, p < 0.05 for happiness; ß = -0.1759, p < 0.01 for life satisfaction). This negative effect is substantially ameliorated among older working adults (ß = 0.002), but is significantly stronger in medium-density (ß = -0.2521 for happiness; ß = -0.2451 for life satisfaction) and high-density cities (ß = -0.3997 for happiness; ß = -0.5736 for life satisfaction). In addition, CO emissions have less effect on life satisfaction for adult workers living in western China (ß = -0.1051). The findings of this study have a strong potential to help policymakers improve the quality of life of residents through better-targeted approaches.
KW - China
KW - air quality
KW - climatic changes
KW - urbanization
KW - well-being
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/1959.7/uws:59095
U2 - 10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.126509
DO - 10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.126509
M3 - Article
SN - 0959-6526
VL - 296
JO - Journal of Cleaner Production
JF - Journal of Cleaner Production
M1 - 126509
ER -