Connection between neighborhood parks and leisure-time physical activity among adult Mexican women: A multilevel analysis in Hermosillo, Mexico

A growing number of studies have shown that active living constitutes a long term remedy to the rising rates of obesity and related risk of chronic disease incidence affecting nations across the globe. Many of these studies highlight the positive relationship between neighborhoods green space and leisure time physical activity among residents, which may result in better health outcomes. Regrettably, the number of studies examining the connection between green space and active living in developing countries is negligible. This study examines the effect of neighborhoods’ public parks on leisure-time physical activity among adult women in a mid-size Mexican city. The analysis links two measures of physical activity extracted from a probabilistic sample of women aged 25-54 (n=1285) to data on parks and social deprivation at the neighborhood level. Through multilevel logistic regression modeling, it was established that participation in physical activity is invariant across neighborhoods when different measures of park availability and accessibility are included in the model. Neighborhood deprivation was the only contextual variable with a significant effect on the level of leisure-time physical activity. Other built environmental factors, such as crime levels and local land uses, could be mediating the connection between women’s physical activity and neighborhood parks. These findings highlight the need to conduct place-based assessments as a precondition for the design of cost-effective interventions promoting women’s physical activity in cities of developing nations and other contexts.