IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0320084.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The impact of fine particulate matter on depression: Evidence from social media in China

Author

Listed:
  • Yao Zhong
  • Jianxin Guo
  • Hongbiao Wang
  • Zhufeng Qiao
  • Jichun Zhao
  • Lei Chen
  • Ying Nie

Abstract

Depression is a significant public health issue in China that imposes a heavy economic burden on society and families. Using a dataset of 8.54 million Weibo posts from 284 prefecture-level cities across China between 2016 and 2019, we calculate the depression tendency index for residents in each city. Using the weighting of pollutants in nearby cities as an instrumental variable, we apply the two-stage least squares method to estimate the impact of PM2.5 on depression. The findings reveal that (1) air pollution markedly influences residents’ susceptibility to depression, and every 1 μg/m3 increase in the PM2.5 concentration results in a 0.0559% increase in the depression tendency value. (2) The influence of air pollution on residents’ depression exhibits a distinct weekly pattern, with individuals in heating cities, on weekdays, and in lower-income brackets being more impacted. (3) Our analysis of healthcare expenditures affirms that China’s environmental governance policies have yielded significant economic advantages. As mitigation strategies, we propose the adoption of air pollution evasion measures, persistent refinement and enforcement of air pollution regulatory policies to reduce environmental pollution-related damage, paying attention to groups at risk of depression and fostering a healthy society.

Suggested Citation

  • Yao Zhong & Jianxin Guo & Hongbiao Wang & Zhufeng Qiao & Jichun Zhao & Lei Chen & Ying Nie, 2025. "The impact of fine particulate matter on depression: Evidence from social media in China," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 20(3), pages 1-21, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0320084
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0320084
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0320084
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0320084&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0320084?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Michael L Anderson, 2020. "As the Wind Blows: The Effects of Long-Term Exposure to Air Pollution on Mortality," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 18(4), pages 1886-1927.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Thomas B. Bjørner & Jørgen Brandt & Lars Gårn Hansen & Marianne Nygaard Källstrøm, 2019. "Regulation of air pollution from wood-burning stoves," Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 62(8), pages 1287-1305, July.
    2. repec:wbk:wbrwps:10254 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Evangelina Dardati & Ramiro de Elejalde & Eugenio Giolito, 2024. "On the short‐term impact of pollution: The effect of PM 2.5 on emergency room visits," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(3), pages 482-508, March.
    4. Syed Hasan & Odmaa Narantungalag, & Martin Berka, 2022. "The intended and unintended consequences of large electricity subsidies: evidence from Mongolia," Discussion Papers 2202, School of Economics and Finance, Massey University, New Zealand.
    5. Camille Salesse, 2022. "Inequality in exposure to air pollution in France: bringing pollutant cocktails into the picture," CEE-M Working Papers hal-03882438, CEE-M, Universtiy of Montpellier, CNRS, INRA, Montpellier SupAgro.
    6. Julia Mink, 2024. "Putting a Price Tag on Air Pollution: The Social Healthcare Costs of Air Pollution in France," ECONtribute Discussion Papers Series 320, University of Bonn and University of Cologne, Germany.
    7. Bencsik, Panka & Lusher, Lester & Taylor, Rebecca, 2021. "Slow Traffic, Fast Food," 2021 Annual Meeting, August 1-3, Austin, Texas 313856, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    8. Duque, Valentina & Gilraine, Michael, 2022. "Coal use, air pollution, and student performance," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 213(C).
    9. Christina M. Andersen & Jørgen Brandt & Jesper H. Christensen & Lise M. Frohn & Camilla Geels & Timo Hener & Marianne Simonsen & Lars Skipper, 2024. "Air Pollution and Cognition in Children: Evidence from National Tests in Denmark," CESifo Working Paper Series 11434, CESifo.
    10. Heyes, Anthony & Zhu, Mingying, 2019. "Air pollution as a cause of sleeplessness: Social media evidence from a panel of Chinese cities," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    11. Qiu, Yun & Liu, Yunning & Shi, Wei & Zhou, Maigeng, 2024. "The impact of ozone pollution on mortality: Evidence from China," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    12. repec:osf:socarx:qy76a_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Bracht, Felix & Verhoeven, Dennis, 2025. "Air pollution and innovation," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).
    14. Tatyana Deryugina & Garth Heutel & Nolan H. Miller & David Molitor & Julian Reif, 2019. "The Mortality and Medical Costs of Air Pollution: Evidence from Changes in Wind Direction," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 109(12), pages 4178-4219, December.
    15. Xinming Du & Lei Li & Eric Zou, 2024. "Trade, Trees, and Lives," NBER Working Papers 33143, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Alan I. Barreca & Matthew Neidell & Nicholas J. Sanders, 2017. "Long-Run Pollution Exposure and Adult Mortality: Evidence from the Acid Rain Program," NBER Working Papers 23524, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Nilsson, J Peter & Tarduno, Matthew & Tebbe, Sebastian, 2024. "Road Pricing with Green Vehicle Exemptions: Theory and Evidence," CEPR Discussion Papers 18955, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    18. Bencsik, Panka & Lusher, Lester & Taylor, Rebecca L.C., 2025. "Slow traffic, fast food: The effects of time lost on food store choice," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    19. Christopher Hansman & Jonas Hjort & Gianmarco León, 2019. "Interlinked firms and the consequences of piecemeal regulation," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 17(3), pages 876-916.
    20. Wang, Yangjie & Chen, Xiaohong & Ren, Shenggang, 2019. "Clean energy adoption and maternal health: Evidence from China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    21. Shuai Chen & Paulina Oliva & Peng Zhang, 2017. "The Effect of Air Pollution on Migration: Evidence from China," NBER Working Papers 24036, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    22. Akshaya Jha & Nicholas Z. Muller, 2017. "Handle with Care: The Local Air Pollution Costs of Coal Storage," NBER Working Papers 23417, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0320084. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.