The role of arousal and stress physiological responses in the pathway from strains to violent and non-violent antisocial behavior

Abstract

This study examined physiological arousal and stress response as conditioning factors for the association between strains and antisocial behavior to address a knowledge gap. We recruited a heterogeneous male adult sample (n = 130; age: mean = 28.11, SD = 10.93) from a large metro city in US, including college students, active offenders and their demographic controls. Participants reported their antisocial behavior and major stressful life events in the past year; and completed a 2-minute resting task and the modified Trier Social Stress Test (m-TSST). Electrocardiography and electrodermal activity were recorded to derive resting and reactivity measures of heart rate (HR) and skin conductance level (SCL). Strains interacted with resting HR to predict violent antisocial behavior. Strains also interacted with HR stress reactivity to predict non-violent antisocial behavior. The positive association between strains and violent antisocial behavior was stronger at lower resting HR, and the positive association between strains and non-violent antisocial behavior was stronger at weaker HR stress reactivity. This study highlights the importance of incorporating physiological response as conditioning factor in the general strain theory framework. The findings also provide support to the Diathesis-Stress model of antisocial behavior, and inform the differential pathways to violent versus non-violent criminal coping.