The study of urban conditions on the sports and health of students (case study: Payame Noor University students in Sari)

Considering the importance of regular physical activity and sports participation as the main means to achieve sustainable health and social vitality, attention to urban infrastructure and conditions is essential to facilitate community sports. The city of Sari, as the center of Mazandaran Province, still faces challenges in equitable and adequate access to sports facilities. This issue can hinder the improvement of physical and mental health of citizens, especially students, who are an active segment of society. The aim of the research is to examine the impact of urban condition components on the sports participation and health of students at Payame Noor University of Sari. The research method is descriptive-survey. The statistical population consists of 3,400 undergraduate students of Payame Noor University of Sari. Based on the Krejcie and Morgan table, 351 individuals were selected as the sample, and to increase the confidence level, data was collected from 390 participants. The data collection tool was a researcher-made questionnaire, and using a combination of the Stimulus-Organism-Response theory and the Theory of Planned Behavior, the data were statistically analyzed employing Pearson correlation tests, multiple regression, and path analysis modeling. All six components of the independent variable (urban conditions) showed a positive and significant relationship with students’ sports participation and health. Overall, three components (social support and encouragement, access to urban sports facilities, and the quality and diversity of sports spaces) were able to explain 44% of the variance in the dependent variable (students’ sports participation and health).