Leisure constraint and mental health: The case of park users in Ningbo, China

Abstract

Parks with green spaces afford many opportunities for and encourage a variety of outdoor leisure activities, which improves park users' physical and mental health in Western countries. However, little is known about whether and how leisure constraint factors relate to the mental health of park users in non-Western countries. This study explored the relationship between leisure constraint factors, demographic variables, and park users’ mental health using multivariate multiple regression analysis. Data were collected from June 22 to July 19, 2021, from 506 respondents in seven major parks in Ningbo, China. Analysis yielded five leisure constraint factors (facilities and environment, accessibility, stress, intrapersonal, time) and three mental health factors (social dysfunction, general dysphoria, anxiety) among park users, and further found accessibility and stress among constraint factors to be significant predictors of social dysfunction among mental health factors; in addition, stress and facilities and environment were significant predictors of general dysphoria, and stress was a significant predictor of anxiety, while intrapersonal and time predicted none. Of the demographic variables, group composition, visit frequency, education, and income were significant predictors of social dysfunction; sex and marital status were significant predictors of general dysphoria; and group composition and visit frequency were significant anxiety predictors. The findings have implications for urban managers and policymakers in urban parks and recreation in a Chinese urban park context. Firstly, we found the accessibility constraint factor and visit frequency were positively related to park users' mental health. Hence, managers may consider building more parks and green spaces, providing more urban park information, and holding more activities to reduce accessibility constraints and encourage more frequent urban park uses. Second, the facilities and environment constraint factors, such as old leisure facilities and old-fashioned leisure activities, were associated with lower mental health perceptions. Managers may consider designing more modern, livable, and user-friendly facilities and offer programs and leisure activities to attract more park users. Third, managers may consider holding social gatherings in parks to improve the mental health of solo visitors. Finally, the stress constraint factor was the most significant factor hindering park users' mental health. Therefore, to enhance people's mental health, urban governance should include planning and managing urban environments and make every effort to offer free and accessible urban parks where park users may relieve their daily life pressure and stress.