Chapter 4 The role of heart rate levels in the intergenerational transmission of crime

Parental crime and a low resting heart rate are two major risk factors for criminal development. This study focuses on the biosocial interaction between these two risk factors. Prospectively collected conviction data on 794 men from three consecutive generations is used to examine the effects of parental (violent) crime and low resting heart rate levels on violent and non-violent offending. It is also examined whether the intergenerational transmission of crime can (partly) be explained by the intergenerational transmission of low heart rate levels and whether the effects of parental crime and heart rate levels on offspring offending interact. Results show that both paternal violence and low heart rate levels increase violent offending. These effects were shown to interact with each other: a relationship between low heart rate and violent offending was only found among those with a non-criminal father, and an intergenerational transmission of violence was only found among those with a low heart rate. No support was found for the explanations of the intergenerational transmission of violence that involve heart rate levels. Implications for theory and future research are discussed.