Abstract
The perception of air quality significantly affects the acceptance of the public of the government’s environmental policies. The aim of this research is to explore the relationship between the perception of the air quality of parents and scientific monitoring data and to analyze the factors that affect parents’ perceptions. Scientific data of air quality were obtained from Wuhan’s environmental condition reports. One thousand parents were investigated for their knowledge and perception of air quality. Scientific data show that the air quality of Wuhan follows an improving trend in general, while most participants believed that the air quality of Wuhan has deteriorated, which indicates a significant difference between public perception and reality. On the individual level, respondents with an age of 40 or above (40 or above: OR = 3.252; 95% CI: 1.170–9.040), a higher educational level (college and above: OR = 7.598; 95% CI: 2.244–25.732) or children with poor healthy conditions (poor: OR = 6.864; 95% CI: 2.212–21.302) have much more negative perception of air quality. On the community level, industrial facilities, vehicles and city construction have major effects on parents’ perception of air quality. Our investigation provides baseline information for environmental policy researchers and makers regarding the public’s perception and expectation of air quality and the benefits to the environmental policy completing and enforcing.
Highlights
Air pollution in China has become an increasingly severe problem in recent years
Our research shows that in general, subjects have a negative impression of air quality, which differs greatly from scientific measurements
We found that at the individual level, perception is significantly correlated with resident area, age, education level and the health condition of their children
Summary
Air pollution in China has become an increasingly severe problem in recent years. A report indicated that in 2013, only 4.1% cities among 74 monitored ones met official air pollution standards in terms of PM2.5 , with an annual average PM2.5 value of 72 μg/m3 ; 14.9% of these cities met standards in terms of PM10 , with an annual average value of 118 μg/m3 [1]. The association between air quality and respiratory diseases has been widely studied, and it is proven that air pollution is an important risk factor for respiratory diseases [2,3]. Children are the most vulnerable population to air pollutants, since they are at the stage of developing their pulmonary functions and physical growth. Res. Public Health 2016, 13, 493; doi:10.3390/ijerph13050493 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph
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