Citation

Farrington DP, Bergstrøm H. J. Crim. Psychol. 2021; 11(2): 141-156.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2021, Emerald Group Publishing)

DOI

10.1108/JCP-01-2021-0003

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

PURPOSE Previous research has indicated that low resting heart rate (RHR), measured at age 18, predicts later psychopathy, and that high RHR acts as a protective factor in nullifying the influence of several psychosocial risk factors in predicting later antisocial and criminal outcomes. This paper aims to investigate high RHR as a protective factor against age 8-10 psychosocial risk factors in predicting psychopathy factors at age 48 (measured by the PCL:SV).

DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH Data collected in the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development are analyzed. This is a prospective longitudinal study of 411 London males from age 8 to age 61.

FINDINGS This paper first reports the age 8-10 psychosocial risk factors that predict the interpersonal/affective Factor 1 and the lifestyle/antisocial Factor 2. Then interaction effects with high RHR are studied. The results indicate that high RHR acts as a protective factor against a convicted father and a depressed mother in predicting both psychopathy factors. It also protected against harsh discipline, large family size, low verbal IQ, high hyperactivity, poor parental supervision and a high delinquency-rate school in predicting one of these psychopathy factors, and against a convicted mother in a sensitivity analysis.

ORIGINALITY/VALUE This is the first ever longitudinal study showing that high RHR acts as a protective factor in the prediction of psychopathy. The replicated results with different antisocial outcomes show that more research is warranted on the protective effects of high RHR.

Language: en

Keywords

Childhood risk factors; Life-course; Longitudinal study; Protective factors; Psychopathy; Resting heart rate