Melding theoretical perspectives: a gendered look at low-resting heart rate and developmental trajectories of antisocial behavior

Abstract

The biosocial theoretical perspective is a growing area within criminological theory; however, skepticism remains toward such new research endeavors. Uncertainty may come from a perceived lack of connection to existing theories of criminality and/or the apparent resources required in conducting biosocial research. Therefore, the aim of this study was twofold. First, by utilizing the public version of National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) data, this study provides an example of biosocial research that does not require the use of expensive laboratory equipment or restrictive datasets. Second, by utilizing a sample of 1629 individuals followed from age 13 to 29, a longitudinal latent class analysis was estimated to explore the relationship between low-resting heart rate and antisocial behavior for both males and females. Doing so, the current study integrates a well-researched correlate of biosocial criminology with mainstream criminological theories (i.e. developmental theories), while also employing a fairly novel approach to group-based trajectory modeling.