The influence of coping strategies on quality of life in a community facing environmental and economic threats

The study investigated the quality of life in a community facing a technological disaster causing environmental and economic damages. For years, the Italian city of Taranto has based its economy on a big steel plant. The industrial plant caused severe environmental pollution, negatively affecting the health of residents living in an area of the city. The steel mill is now under judicial investigation and may be closed in the future, causing the loss of jobs for many citizens. By means of a questionnaire, we investigated the influence of coping strategies on quality of life and place attachment and the effects of being under the environmental (i.e., living in the contaminated area) and the economic (working for the steel mill) threat on these variables. Results showed that living in the contaminated area had negative effects on quality of life both directly and indirectly, lowering place attachment and increasing avoidant coping. Working for the plant had negative effects on the environmental dimension of quality of life.