Despite widespread concerns with social networking site (SNS) security, little research has determined why some are more concerned about SNS security than others. The present research proposes that people may derive their sense of security in SNSs from how safe they are and feel in their physical environment. Specifically, this research examined the relationships between participants' (N = 1262; 47.9% women) perceived neighborhood safety, perceived SNS security, and physical environments as defined by their neighborhood zip code. Findings showed that safety in one's physical environment predicted their perception of physical safety, which in turn predicted their perception of SNS security. These relations held even when holding annual household income constant. Together, these findings suggest that perception of safety in offline and online contexts may be closely intertwined. This research highlights the importance of considering features of the physical environment to understand individual differences in the perception of SNS security.

尽管人们对社交网站（SNS）安全性存在广泛关注，但很少有研究确定为什么某些人比其他人更关注SNS安全性。本研究建议人们可以从他们在物理环境中的安全感和安全感中获得对SNS的安全感。具体来说，这项研究调查了参与者（N = 1262； 47.9％的女性）感知到的邻里安全，感知的SNS安全以及由其附近的邮政编码定义的物理环境之间的关系。研究结果表明，人身环境中的安全性可以预测他们对人身安全性的感知，进而可以预测他们对SNS安全性的感知。即使保持家庭年收入不变，这些关系也保持不变。一起，这些发现表明，离线和在线环境下的安全感可能紧密相关。这项研究强调了考虑物理环境的特征以理解SNS安全感知中的个体差异的重要性。