“Inverted quarantine” in the face of environmental change: Initiative defensive behaviors against air pollution in China

People in China have become concerned with the health threats associated with severe air pollution. As a result, behavioural adjustments and pollutant filtration product implementation have become common means for people to cope with pollution threats in their daily lives. However, a systematic awareness of the basic characteristics and mechanisms of such behaviours is lacking. This paper focuses on how residents engage in inverted quarantine in response to air pollution. We examine in detail their behavioural responses by conducting a questionnaire survey. Results show that individual avoidance behaviours are quite diverse and combined. Masks have been identified as the most widely adopted filtration product with the lowest input costs. High-income groups have a higher tendency to purchase expensive filtering devices compared with low-income groups and prefer to combine multiple protection strategies. In addition to the driving effect of income, individual psychological perception plays an important role in the decision making of households. A lower public confidence in the government further encourages individual self-protection. These findings urge the government to enhance their air pollution control efforts and their timeliness of disclosing pollution information. The significant driving effects of individual cognition factors also call for a proper guidance to achieve a rational public perception of air pollution. Although the health benefits of using pollutant filtering devices have been widely discussed and proven, the increased energy consumption and other environmental impacts resulting from the use of such products are easily neglected. It demands the implementation of stricter market entrance, improved energy efficiency standards and enhanced waste management.