Heart Rate Reactivity as a Moderator of the Relationship Between Neighborhood Disadvantage and Externalizing Behavior

• In Event: Biosocial Criminology: Research, Theory, and Use in the Criminal Justice System

Abstract

Although criminological researchers have a long-standing interest in neighborhood effects on crime and antisocial behavior, little is known about how biological functioning may moderate the impact of neighborhood disadvantage on these behaviors. We addressed this limitation by examining whether heart rate reactivity to stress moderates the relationship between neighborhood disadvantage and antisocial behavior. Antisocial behavior was assessed in a community sample of 445 male and females (mean age = 11.92 years) using self-report and parent-report measures of externalizing behavior, aggression, and rule-breaking. Heart rate was measured during rest and stress tasks to derive heart rate reactivity to stress. Heart rate reactivity interacted with neighborhood disadvantage to predict antisocial behavior. In particular, neighborhood disadvantage was more strongly associated with antisocial behavior amongst those subjects with low heart rate reactivity, with the presence of both biological and neighborhood risk increasing the likelihood of antisocial behavior. This study is one of the few to document a biosocial interaction involving a neighborhood-level risk factor, and is the first to find that heart rate reactivity to stress interacts with the neighborhood environment to predict antisocial behavior. This finding highlights the importance of considering biological factors in conjunction with the broader environmental context.

Authors

• Jill Portnoy, University of Pennsylvania

• Adrian Raine, University of Pennsylvania

• John MacDonald, University of Pennsylvania

• Yu Gao, Brooklyn College, CUNY

• Liana Soyfer, University of Pennsylvania