Table 1.
Description of variables
| Variable | Definition | Descriptive statistics |
|---|---|---|
| Environmental attitudes | ||
| Environment awareness | Response to the question: Is environmental protection a social problem of major interest to you? A dummy variable set equal to 1 if the respondent answered ‘yes’; zero otherwise. | 28.5% of respondents considered environmental protection a social problem of major interest to them. |
| Neighbourhood environment | Response to the question: Over the last two years, what changes in environmental consciousness have you observed in the neighbourhood in which you live? Responses depicted on an ordinal scale from 1 = ‘considerable fall’ to 5 = ‘significant improvement’. | 1 = 1.3%; 2 = 7.7%; 3 = 24.2%; 4 = 56.5%; 5 = 10.3%. Mean perceived change rating = 3.66 (SD = 0.81). |
| Attitudes on other socio-economic and political issues | ||
| Pro-market | A dummy variable set equal to 1 if the respondent favours further market reforms; zero otherwise. | 96.8% of respondents were pro-market. |
| Income inequality | A dummy variable set equal to 1 if income inequality is a social problem of major interest to the respondent; zero otherwise. | 29.5% of respondents considered income inequality a social problem of major interest to them. |
| Social protection | A dummy variable set equal to 1 if social protection is a social problem of major interest to the respondent; zero otherwise. | 50.5% of respondents considered social protection a social problem of major interest to them. |
| National reunification | A dummy variable set equal to 1 if reunification between the Mainland and Taiwan is a social problem of major interest to the respondent; zero otherwise. | 9.9% of respondents considered national reunification a social problem of major interest to them. |
| SARS | A dummy variable set equal to 1 if SARS is a social problem of major interest to the respondent; zero otherwise. | 26.2% of respondents considered SARS a social problem of major interest to them. |
| Personal characteristics | ||
| Gender | A dummy variable set equal to 1 if the respondent is male. | 51.2% female. |
| Age | The age of the respondent. | Mean = 39.11 (SD = 13.90) in a range of 18–88. |
| Marital status | A vector of dummy variables for marital status of the respondent (single, married, divorced and not remarried, divorced and remarried, widowed and not remarried, widowed and remarried). | Single = 25.6%, married = 69.4%, divorced and not remarried = 1.9%, divorced and remarried = 0.5%, widowed and not remarried = 2.4%, widowed and remarried = 0.2%. |
| Education | A vector of dummy variables representing the highest education of respondent (junior secondary school and below; senior secondary school; polytechnic school; three year higher degree; four year undergraduate; and postgraduate degree. | Junior secondary school and below = 20.9%; senior secondary school = 28.5%; polytechnic school = 11.4%; three year higher degree = 22.9%; four year undergraduate = 14.8%; and postgraduate degree = 1.5%. |
| Occupation | A vector of dummy variables for occupation of respondent (senior professional; middle professional; lower professional; technical; semi-skilled; manual; retired; not in labour force). | Senior professional = 0.5%; middle professional = 9.3%; lower professional = 25.8%; technical = 14.1%; semi-skilled = 13.6%; manual = 3.6%; retired = 15.9%; not in labour force = 8.4%. |
| Unemployed | A dummy variable set equal to 1 if the respondent is unemployed, or laid-off (xiagang). | 8.8% of respondents were unemployed or laid-off (xiagang). |
| Income | An ordered variable representing monthly household income over 20 categories from 1 (≤ 260 RMB) to 20 (> 20,000 RMB). | Median = 9 (RMB2001-2250). |
| Environmental surroundings | ||
| Pollution | SO2 emissions (tons per capita) in 2003 in the province/municipality/autonomous region in which the respondent lives. | Mean = 0.012; SD = 0.006; Min. = 0.0003; Max. = 0.0327. |
| Disaster | Number of environmental disasters in 2003 in the province/municipality/autonomous region in which the respondent lives. | Mean = 58.8; SD = 75.5; Min. = 0; Max. = 358 |
| Congestion | Total passenger traffic (vehicles) per capita in 2003 in the city where the respondent lives. | Mean = 2.08; SD = 1.85; Min. = .05; Max. = 11.8 |
| Parks | Green area per capita in 2003 in the city where the respondent lives. | Mean = 5.334; SD = 2.009; Min. = 1.6; Max. = 10.1 |