Environmental annoyances: an urban-specific threat to quality of life?

Two questions are at the bases of this paper: (1) what is the importance of environmental features among all other factors contributing to threaten the individual's quality of life, and (2) are cities perceived as being worse than rural environments in terms of environmental quality? In order to respond to these questions, a French version of the Lazarus Hassle scale has been published in an issue of the periodic "Science et Vie". 1791 individuals from all parts of France sent in their responses. Results show that environmental features are among the most severe hassles of daily life in French population. They are the most often mentioned and the highest ranked items. Looking at the size of the place of residence, it appears that inhabitants of rural areas do not consider themselves significantly less exposed to stressors like noise, air pollution, traffic problems or criminality than Parisians or inhabitants of other big agglomerations, and they do not feel significantly less irritated, frustrated or anxious by environmental problems, than others. In terms of people-environment relations, the results suggest that, whatever the objective environmental condition, people feel stressed by environmental problems, which indicates that the awareness of such issues seem to be at least partly dependent on normative social constructs. (c) 2006 Elsevier SAS. All rights reserved.