Research news: Students with cell phones may take more risks, study finds

The News:
Students With Cell Phones May Take More Risks, Study Finds
ScienceDaily (Mar. 5, 2008) — Carrying a cell phone may cause some college students – especially women – to take risks with their safety, a new study suggests. A survey of 305 students at one campus found that 40 percent of cell phone users said they walked somewhere after dark that they normally wouldn’t go.
A separate survey found that about three-quarters of students said that carrying a cell phone while walking alone at night made them feel somewhat or a lot safer.
“Students seem to feel less vulnerable when they carry a cell phone, although there’s not evidence that they really are,” said Jack Nasar, co-author of the study and professor of city and regional planning at Ohio State University.
“If anything, they are probably less safe because they are paying less attention to their surroundings.”
Nasar conducted the study with Peter Hecht of Temple University in Philadelphia and Richard Wener of Brooklyn Polytechnic University in New York. Their results were published in a recent issue of the International Journal of Urban and Regional Research. more...

The Research:
Read the research behind this story in the International Journal of Urban and Regional Research.