Childhood Social Adversity Moderates the Relationship between History of Traumatic Brain Injury and Violent Crime

• In Event: Poster Session II

Abstract

Social push theory asserts that childhood social adversity can push individuals with biological risk factors toward violent behavior. One biological risk factor associated with violent crime is traumatic brain injury (TBI). The present study used structured interviews to assess 40 homeless men from the Long Beach Rescue Mission for history of TBI, childhood social adversity, and violent crime. This is the first study to examine how childhood social adversity impacts the relationship between number of lifetime TBI and violent crime. A hierarchical regression revealed that childhood social adversity significantly moderated the relationship between number of lifetime TBI and violent crime with the interaction explaining an additional 8.4% of variance in violent crime, ΔR2 = .084, F(1, 36) = 4.15, p = .049. For those with high and mean levels of childhood social adversity, increased number of TBI significantly predicted increased violent crime (p = .009 and p = .028 respectively). Number of lifetime TBI was not a significant predictor of violent crime for individuals with low levels of childhood social adversity. These findings supplement evidence that an enriched childhood provides protection against developing violent behaviors due to biological predispositions. Further, they may inform potential interventions for an underserved population.

Authors

• Michelle Frankot, California State University, Long Beach

• Everett Delfel, California State University, Long Beach

• Jeremy Feiger, California State University, Long Beach

• Jennifer Ostergren, California State University, Long Beach

• Robert Schug, California State University, Long Beach