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 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/m(3) was associated with a significant reduction in life satisfaction of .017 points on the ESS 10-point life satisfaction 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/m(3)), in addition to the effects on physical health, exposure negatively affects subjective assessments of well-being.

Ämnesord

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Hälsovetenskap -- Arbetsmedicin och miljömedicin (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Health Sciences -- Occupational Health and Environmental Health (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Life satisfaction

Environmental pollution

Air quality

Subjective health assessment

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