Urban Mobility Experiences and Perceived Stress Along a High-Intensity Corridor in a Mexican Border City

Urban mobility is increasingly conceptualized as a multidimensional, user-centered domain of transport system evaluation with potential implications for population health. This study examined the association between user-reported urban mobility experiences and perceived stress among adults using a high-intensity corridor in Nogales, Sonora, Mexico. A quantitative cross-sectional analytical study was conducted with 423 participants using the Urban Mobility Experiences Scale (UMES) and the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-14). Spearman’s correlation analyses showed inverse associations between perceived stress and several mobility dimensions, although only Sustainability and Urban Environment remained statistically significant after Bonferroni correction (ρ = −0.266; p < 0.001). In multivariate analysis, Sustainability and Urban Environment, Accessibility and Connectivity, and Travel Time and Efficiency were retained as significant predictors, jointly explaining 14.1% of the variance in perceived stress (R² = 0.141; f² = 0.152). These findings suggest that multidimensional urban mobility experiences, particularly environmental and accessibility conditions, are associated with perceived stress beyond traditional operational indicators in high-intensity urban corridors.