Extended Abstract
Background and Purpose
In Iran, women's use of public spaces is shaped within a framework that is strongly influenced by social considerations, cultural norms, and situational perceptions of safety and acceptance. Within this context, perceptions of safety, cultural expectations, timing of presence (e.g., specific hours of the day), type of companionship (solitary or group-based), and even the social interpretation of physical activity simultaneously shape the quality of women's experiences in urban public spaces. Under such conditions, women's leisure participation is better understood as a process of continuous negotiation with environmental constraints and opportunities—a negotiation that may either facilitate or hinder the transformation of sporadic visits into sustained participation. For instance, whereas serious leisure is often conceptualized in the literature as a relatively linear progression from engagement to commitment and ultimately persistence, in the lived experiences of Iranian women this pathway may be fragmented, discontinuous, and highly contingent on situational factors. In other words, even high levels of engagement or interest do not necessarily translate into sustained behavior unless they pass through critical filters such as perceived safety, social acceptance, and the feasibility of repetition within everyday life conditions. It is at this point that constructs such as place attachment and leisure identity salience take on a different functional role: place attachment operates as a "reassurance mechanism" that renders the space predictable and reliable for future return visits, while leisure identity salience helps individuals maintain behavioral continuity in the face of external pressures. Accordingly, the main research gap lies in the absence of a context-sensitive explanation that demonstrates how serious leisure, leisure identity salience, and place attachment interact within the specific socio-spatial conditions of Iran to shape women's sustainable leisure participation. However, it remains unclear whether the relationships between these constructs operate in the same way within Iranian urban green spaces and among women as they do in other contexts. Based on this, the present study, with a focus on women in urban green spaces in Iran, seeks to examine the role of serious leisure in explaining sustainable leisure participation through a mediation-based model, and to show how leisure identity salience and place attachment, within real and context-specific conditions, can contribute to the stabilization and continuity of leisure behaviors.
Methods
This applied study was conducted using a quantitative approach and a descriptive-correlational design, with data collected through fieldwork. The primary objective was to examine women's sustained leisure participation in physical activities in urban green spaces, based on the roles of serious leisure, leisure identity prominence, and place attachment. The study population consisted of women over the age of 18 who had at least one year of experience participating in physical sports activities in the parks and green spaces of Tehran. To ensure respondents' alignment with the scope of the study, screening questions related to age, educational level, and consistency of weekly physical activity were included at the beginning of the questionnaire.
Serious leisure was measured using the questionnaire developed by Gould et al. (2008), place attachment was assessed using Yeager's (2021) instrument, leisure identity prominence was measured based on the framework presented in the literature by Bernardo and Palma (2013), and sustained participation was assessed through a researcher-developed questionnaire. The instrument consisted of 24 items rated on a five-point Likert scale and translated into Persian. The validity of the translation was confirmed through a translation and back-translation procedure following the guidelines of Beaton et al. (2000), and the questionnaire was reviewed by seven faculty members for clarity, relevance, and necessary revisions. Reliability was assessed using Cronbach's alpha, and all scales demonstrated values above 0.70.
To determine the appropriate sample size, Cochran's formula was applied, estimating a required sample of 214 participants. Data were collected between June and August 2025 through on-site visits to Laleh Park, Pardisan Park, and Mellat Park, and 214 valid questionnaires were ultimately analyzed. Data analysis was conducted using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) with SmartPLS 3 software. A two-step approach was employed, first evaluating the measurement model (outer model) to assess convergent and discriminant validity, followed by testing the structural model (inner model) to examine the study hypotheses. The results indicated that the proposed model demonstrated satisfactory reliability and validity within the study context.
Results
The measurement model demonstrated satisfactory reliability, convergent validity, and discriminant validity, as the outer loadings exceeded the cross-loadings and the Fornell–Larcker criterion was met. All hypothesized paths were positive and statistically significant (\(p = 0.001\)), confirming the direct effects of identity salience, place attachment, and sustained participation on serious leisure, as well as the effects of sustained participation on identity salience and place attachment. The structural model showed acceptable explanatory power, with \(R^2\) values ranging from 0.139 to 0.455, while the positive \(Q^2\) values supported the model’s predictive relevance and overall adequacy.
Conclusion
This study demonstrated that serious leisure plays a pivotal role in shaping and sustaining women's participation in physical activities within urban green spaces. When physical activity is accompanied by sustained commitment, goal-oriented planning, and both temporal and emotional investment, the activity setting becomes an integral part of women's identity and lived experience. Consequently, engagement in urban green spaces—including large and multifunctional parks in Tehran—becomes more meaningful and enduring. This process enables women to redefine their leisure identities, thereby fostering continuous participation. Leisure identity salience, as a mechanism that embeds leisure roles within the self-concept structure, further strengthens sustained engagement. Women who perceive themselves as active and athletic tend to align their behaviors with this internalized identity, resulting in greater consistency in participation. This role-based identity enhances motivation for repeated engagement by providing a sense of social representation and belonging. In addition, women's place attachment to parks extends beyond a simple emotional bond and operates as a motivational and identity-forming driver of sustained participation. Continuous engagement in running paths, exercise stations, and informal social networks enhances feelings of competence and mastery, thereby reinforcing leisure participation. Overall, the findings indicate that the combination of serious leisure, leisure identity salience, and place attachment constitutes three complementary mechanisms that ensure women's sustained participation in urban physical activities. These mechanisms not only contribute to enriching leisure and identity theories but also offer important practical implications for urban green space design, facilitation of social interaction, and the enhancement of women's health and well-being, ultimately transforming women's physical activity into a stable social and identity-based practice.
Article Message
The findings of this study indicate that women's sustainable participation in physical activities within urban green spaces under the management of the Tehran Municipality can be explained through an integrated three-dimensional framework. This model suggests that "sustainability of participation" emerges from the synergistic interaction of three key mechanisms: serious leisure, leisure identity salience, and place attachment, all of which operate within environmental, social, and perceptual conditions of urban green spaces. Within this framework, serious leisure functions as a "transformative mechanism," shifting women's engagement in green spaces from occasional recreational use toward goal-oriented, structured, and sustained participation. Leisure identity salience consolidates this process at the individual level by embedding physical activity within women's self-concept and social role identity, thereby ensuring that behavioral continuity is grounded in identity coherence rather than situational conditions. Subsequently, place attachment operates as an "environmental stabilizing mechanism," fostering familiarity, perceived safety, and meaningful spatial experiences, which together encourage repeated visits and the formation of enduring bonds with place. Based on this model, the Tehran Municipality can reconceptualize urban green spaces from mere recreational infrastructure into identity-forming environments that actively support women's physical activity participation. This requires urban management to move beyond quantitative expansion of green spaces and instead focus on three simultaneous levels of intervention: (a) experience-oriented spatial design that enhances continuity and repetition of activity, (b) strengthening perceived safety, predictability, and social acceptance to facilitate place attachment, and (c) fostering active leisure identities through the creation of social engagement platforms and group-based activities. Within this perspective, urban green spaces function as "platforms for generating sustained participation." Accordingly, municipal policymaking in Tehran can, by adopting this tripartite framework, bridge the gap between mere access to space and sustained participation, ultimately contributing to improved public health, spatial justice, and overall urban quality of life.
Ethical Considerations
All ethical guidelines were rigorously observed during the conduct of this research.
Authors' Contributions
All authors contributed equally to the execution of this research.
Conflict of Interest
No conflict of interest exists.
Acknowledgments
The authors extend sincere thanks to all individuals and organizations that provided collaboration and support throughout this study.