Perceived health and quality of life: the effect of exposure to atmospheric pollution
Résumé
Interest in understanding how atmospheric pollution affects well-being and
quality of life has increased during the last ten years. The existing literature
examines the role of psychological and psychosocial factors in understanding the
effect of risk perception and annoyance due to air pollution on perceived health
and quality of life. However, less attention has been paid to the combined effect
of subjective ecological vulnerability and socioeconomic insecurity on quality of
life. Drawing on the transactional models of environmental satisfaction and
stress, we investigate how health risk perception, perceived annoyance due to air
pollution and socioeconomic insecurity could be associated with perceived
health and perceived quality of life in two French cities, selected on the basis of
their high objective air pollution, and in a reference one with a low level of air
pollution. The survey was conducted among a stratified random sample of 1500
participants (500/city). The results highlight the importance of the subjective
perception of annoyance and of health risk perception due to air pollution in
the combined effects of socioeconomic and ecological factors of vulnerability for
the polluted cities.