# Multilevel determinants of paternal and child physical activity: qualitative research using dyadic interviews among Mexican heritage fathers living near the Texas-Mexico border

## TL;DR

Mexican-heritage fathers near the Texas-Mexico border share how they overcome barriers to physical activity for themselves and their children, using cultural and interpersonal strategies.

## Contribution

This study is the first to explore Mexican-heritage fathers' perceptions of child physical activity barriers and solutions using dyadic interviews and a social-ecological framework.

## Key findings

- Fathers identified multilevel barriers to physical activity, including personal health and unsafe environments.
- Cultural norms like family support and creative solutions like installing outdoor lights helped promote physical activity.
- Interpersonal strategies and the meaning attributed to physical activity reinforced resilience in low-resource communities.

## Abstract

Families living near the Texas-Mexico border face disproportionate barriers to physical activity (PA), yet little research has explored how Mexican-heritage fathers perceive and overcome barriers to child PA. The purpose of this study was to examine and describe fathers’ perceptions of strategies to improve child PA through a social-ecological lens.

Fathers (n = 30) living near the Texas-Mexico border colonias completed Spanish-language, father-father dyadic interviews (n = 15) conducted by trained facilitators. Spanish-language audio recordings were transcribed verbatim and translated into English. A coding framework was created based on the social-ecological model. Inductive and deductive approaches directed thematic analysis. Coding consisted of two researchers who coded one interview for reliability purposes with intercoder agreement set at 80% agreement on 95% of codes.

Fathers mentioned multilevel barriers to PA, and outlined strategies that demonstrated their resilience in promoting PA among their children. Participants discussed intrapersonal factors (e.g., physical health, weight status) as barriers to their child’s PA, but their experiences with their own health issues motivated fathers to promote healthy behaviors in their children. Interpersonal factors (e.g., parental duty, social support, culture) facilitated PA, and were a major way fathers overcame unsafe outdoor environments to facilitate PA. Community and family supportiveness and closeness were cultural norms that were crucial for facilitating outdoor PA. Many fathers reported working long hours and having low access to well-paying jobs as a major barrier to PA. Given that fathers often came home from work late, participants developed creative solutions to facilitate outdoor PA, like installing lights to play outside at night. Finally, participants reported finding meaning in PA for themselves and their children, including connection with family and friends, culturally relevant activities, personal identity, and health maintenance.

The results of this study suggest that the meaning participants attribute to being physically active, especially on the interpersonal level, contributes to reinforcing PA and promoting resilience for themselves and their children. These findings can inform the design of culturally grounded interventions that leverage fathers’ interpersonal strategies and resilience (e.g., family-centered activities, addressing neighborhood safety) to support PA among children in low-resource, Mexican-heritage communities.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12889-025-23956-x.