Low Resting Heart Rate, College-Level Deviance, and Antisocial Behavior.

• In Event: Recent Developments in Biosocial and Developmental Research

Abstract

Previous research has established a link between low resting heart rate and antisocial behavior. A meta-analysis of forty studies concluded that low resting heart rate is the best-replicated biological correlate of antisocial and aggressive behavior in children and adolescents (Ortiz and Raine, 2004). However, the literature mainly examines serious forms of antisocial behavior, including violence, hard drug use, and sexual aggression. The current study seeks to advance this framework by studying a sample of college students to see if the association between low resting heart rate and antisocial behavior extends to college-level deviance. It was hypothesized that, controlling for physical fitness levels, college students with low resting heart rates would exhibit high levels of deviance (e.g., academic dishonesty, romantic infidelity, alcohol and marijuana use) Results will discuss the degree to which the low resting heart rate-antisocial behavior association extends to lower risk samples and behaviors.

Authors

• Allison J. Swopes, Kansas State University

• Brooke Cooley, University of Nebraska at Omaha

• Melissa A. Petkovsek, University of Central Missouri