Can Environmental Protection Behavior Enhance Farmers' Subjective Well-Being?

Abstract

The significance of environmental protection activities is well known, but little literature has focused on the well-being effects of environmental protection behavior among farmer groups. This study provides new literature support for farmers and rural development issues. Using data from the 2013 China Integrated Social Survey, a systematic and robust examination of the happiness effects of environmental protection behavior among Chinese farmers and their transmission mechanisms was conducted with the help of multiple regression techniques and mediated impact analysis. The study found that Chinese farmers' environmental protection behavior can directly trigger the experience of well-being and also indirectly enhance subjective well-being by improving the quality of life in other areas, thanks to their characteristics in avoiding environmental risks and enhancing social interactions. Increased education may contribute to farmers being more motivated by benefits such as material rewards, experience, and skills, and thus experiencing less well-being from environmental protection behavior. The fact that farmers of all household incomes experience equal well-being from environmental protection behavior is consistent with the view of non-differential well-being experiences in the volunteering literature. The research in this paper adds new evidence to the existing literature and provides an essential reference for policymakers and participants in rural development in China. In addition, studying individual issues in environmental governance in rural China provides a Chinese case study and practical lessons for farmer development in other countries worldwide.

Who are the convoys of the happiness of Chinese urban residents? Research on social relations and subjective well-being based on the convoy model

“…Generally speaking, well-being can be divided into two dimensions: subjective and objective. The subjective dimension emphasizes the subjective experience of well-being, while the objective dimension focuses on the objective reality of well-being ( Qi et al, 2023 ). Compared with objective dimensions, SWB has attracted extensive attention in the academic community due to its greater inclusiveness.…”

Is bilingualism linked to well-being? Evidence from a big-data survey

“…But overall speaking, it is 'reliable, valid, and viable' in survey-based studies (Abdel-Khalek, 2006, p.129). The singleitem measurement for well-being has been adopted in a series of analyses based on the CGSS (e.g., Ding et al, 2021;Qi et al, 2023); most recently, Yan et al (2023) reported that the single question on well-being from the 2017 CGSS is 'reliable and effective' (p. 4) in the Chinese context.…”

“…The two studies illustrated below, which discussed the 'seldom'-explored linkage between language and well-being (Zhang et al, 2021, p. 2), were highly relevant to our study hence they represented our 'major' considerations. There are many examples in social science disciplines other than language-related fields; for instance, the 2013 CGSS data were the focus of Qi et al (2023); Yan et al (2023) utilised the 2017 CGSS data, claiming that this wave provided 'the most recent data from the CGSS' (p. 4, emphasis added).…”

Small Acts With Big Impacts: Does Garbage Classification Improve Subjective Well-Being in Rural China?

“…Notwithstanding the considerable research on garbage classification, previous studies have not explored the association between garbage classification and people's subjective well-being. One exception is Qi et al (2022), who documented that environment protection behaviour (e.g., garbage classification and donating money for environmental protection) can enhance farmers' subjective well-being in China. However, they only considered garbage classification as an element of the synthesized key explanatory variable (i.e., environmental protection behaviour), shedding no light on the association between garbage classification and subjective well-being.…”