Challenging the Urban-Rural Divide: Latino Parental Perceptions of the Built Environment

Quantitative data alone cannot fully capture neighborhood conditions, particularly in understanding how the built environment influences child health. This study explores how Latino parents from low socioeconomic position (SEP) backgrounds in both urban and rural settings perceive their neighborhood environments concerning their children’s physical activity (PA). Using four qualitative focus groups (N = 36) we examined perceived barriers and facilitators to child health and well-being. Across both urban and rural groups, parents identified limited access to physical activity resources, such as safe parks, sidewalks, and recreational facilities as a primary barrier, highlighting striking parallels across geographies. These findings challenge the notion that urban and rural disparities are fundamentally distinct and instead suggest that low SEP is the more salient driver of constrained PA opportunities. To our knowledge, this is the first study to compare qualitative neighborhood perceptions of low SEP Latino families across urban and rural settings, providing critical insight into how structural inequities shape child health behaviors independent of geographic category.