Hormones, autonomic nervous system activity, and criminal behavior

ABSTRACT

Evidence that hormones and autonomic nervous system activity exert a joint influence on antisocial behavior suggests that they may work together to explain risk for criminal behavior. Thus, the current study explored the interactive effects of hormones (testosterone, cortisol) and ANS activity (heart rate, skin conductance) on impulsive and violent criminal behavior in a large sample of university students (n = 495). Initial analyses found positive direct associations between impulsive and violent crime and both testosterone and cortisol and a negative direct association between heart rate reactivity and impulsive and violent crime. Subsequent analyses revealed a statistically significant interaction between testosterone and heart rate in association with impulsive and violent criminal behavior. The positive association between testosterone and crime became statistically significant at −.29 standard deviations below the mean (HR = 76.44) and grew stronger as heart rate decreased from this point. The interaction between testosterone and heart rate remains statistically significant after the inclusion of controls for constructs that feature prominently in contemporary criminological theories. Other interactions between hormones and ANS activity were present but were not consistent across alternative model specifications.

KEYWORDS:

• Testosterone
• cortisol
• heart rate
• skin conductance
• crime

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/0735648X.2024.2382985

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by an Enhancement Grant for Professional Development from the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs at Sam Houston State University. Additional support was provided by an internal grant from the College of Criminal Justice at Sam Houston State University.

Notes on contributors

Todd A. Armstrong

Todd, A. Armstrong, Ph.D., is a professor in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Nebraska Omaha. His research interests center on the nature and origins of criminal propensity with an emphasis on biological contributions to risk for criminal behavior.

Danielle L. Boisvert

Danielle L. Boisvert (Professor) is the Senior Associate Dean in the College of Criminal Justice at Sam Houston State University. Her key research interests include life-course/developmental criminology, biosocial criminology, and behavioral genetics.

Jessica Wells

Jessica Wells, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Criminal Justice Program at Boise State University. Her research focuses on the underpinnings and impacts of trauma and abuse on antisocial behavior and psychological traits associated with antisocial behavior.

Richard H. Lewis

Richard H. Lewis, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. His primary research interests are the role of biological and psychological factors in antisocial behavior and the consequences of trauma.

Eric M. Cooke

Eric M. Cooke, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Criminal Justice Program at Bowling Green State University. His primary research interests include life-course and developmental criminology, developmental processes and trajectories, biopsychosocial criminology, risky behaviors among adolescents and young adults, the effects that early life adversities have on later life outcomes, and victimology.

Matthias Woeckener

Matthias Woeckener, M.A., is an Assistant Professor in the Criminal Justice Program at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. His research interests include life-course and developmental criminology, biopsychosocial criminology, and attachment theory.

Nicholas Kavish

Nicholas Kavish, Ph.D., is a Neuropsychology Fellow in the Department of Neurological Sciences at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. His primary research interests include neurocognitive and personality assessment and psychometrics.

Nicholas Vietto

Nicholas Vietto, MS, is a Ph.D. student in the College of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Nebraska-Omaha. His primary research interests are biopsychosocial criminology, quantitative methodology, and antisocial behavior.

James M. Harper

James M. Harper, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor and the Graduate Coordinator in the Department of Biological Sciences at Sam Houston State University. His current research interests are in the characterization of speckled cockroaches as a new insect model for aging research, as well as quantifying the effect of plasticizing agents on physiological function in both insect and mammalian cell-line models. Dr. Harper also conducted collaborative research with psychologists and criminologists to study endocrine correlations of behavior in dogs and humans using salivary samples.