Social Science & Medicine 54 (2002) 1793–1812 The relative influence of individual, social and physical environment determinants of physical activity Billie Giles-Corti a, *, Robert J. Donovan b,1 a Department of Public Health, The University of Western Australia, P.O. Box 5771, Albany, W.A. 6332, Australia b Department of Public Health, The University of Western Australia, Australia Abstract Environmental determinants of health are receiving growing attention in the literature, although there is little empirical research in this area. The Study on Environmental and Individual Determinants of Physical Activity (known as the SEID project) was a social ecological project that examined the relative influence of individual, social environmental and physical environmental determinants of recreational physical activity. It involved a community survey of 1803 healthy workers and home-makers aged 18–59 years living in a 408 km 2 area of metropolitan Perth, Western Australia. Physical environmental determinants were mainly conceptualised as spatial access to popular recreational facilities. Overall, 59% of respondents exercised as recommended. Recreational facilities located near home were used by more respondents than facilities located elsewhere. The most frequently used facilities were informal: the streets (45.6%); public open space (28.8%) and the beach (22.7%). The physical environment’s directs the influence on exercising as recommended was found to be secondary to individual and social environmental determinants. Nevertheless, accessible facilities determined whether or not they were used and in this way, support and enhance the achievement of recommended levels of physical activity behaviour by providing opportunities. The results suggest that access to a supportive physical environment is necessary, but may be insufficient to increase recommended levels of physical activity in the community. Complementary strategies are required that aim to influence individual and social environmental factors. Given the popularity of walking in the community, it is recommended that greater emphasis be placed on creating streetscapes that enhance walking for recreation and transport. r 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Physical activity; Spatial access; Environment; Social policy; Health promotion; Western Australia Introduction Physical inactivity is an important determinant of ill- health, and even moderate levels of activity confer health benefit (US Department of Health and Human Services, 1996). Until relatively recently, behavioural physical activity research has focussed on identifying individual determinants. This approach has been criti- cised because it places undue emphasis on the individual and fails to consider the context within which health behaviour takes place (Milio, 1986; McLeroy, Bibeau, Steckler, & Glanz, 1988; Tesh, 1988; Minkler, 1989; Stevenson & Burke, 1992; Stokols, 1992). A focus on broader determinants of health behaviour is consistent with a social ecological perspective of human behaviour which suggests an interaction between the individual and the social and physical environment and the need to maximise the ‘person-environment fit’ (Stokols, 1996). Since the late 1980s, there has been a growing interest in the role of the physical environment in increasing *Corresponding author. Tel.: +61-8-9842-0888; fax: +61-8- 9842-0877. E-mail address: billie@cyllene.uwa.edu.au (B. Giles-Corti). 1 Now at Division of Health Sciences, Curtin University of Technology. 0277-9536/02/$ - see front matter r 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII:S0277-9536(01)00150-2