Leisure-time and subjective well-being among park visitors in urban Pakistan: the mediating role of health satisfaction

The aim of this paper is to explore the importance of health satisfaction with a particular emphasis on how leisure-time spent in parks determines the overall well-being, including the health satisfaction among the park visitors. Our data have been collected from park visitors in four major public parks in urban Pakistan based on a multistage non-random sampling technique. The results from the regression analysis suggest that besides socio-economic characteristics like being well-educated and richer; the amount of weekly leisure-time spent in park plays a positive and significant role in well-being. In particular, health satisfaction mediates the relationship between the amount of weekly leisure-time spent in park and subjective well-being among the park visitors in the study area. Policy makers should hence put more emphasis on park facilitation to encourage park visitation to ensure greater happiness and better quality of life particularly in terms of health satisfaction. This in particular pressing as developing countries increasingly grapple with adverse health effects stemming from Covid-19.