High resting heart rate reduces risk of white-collar criminality

Low resting heart rate (RHR) is considered the best-replicated biological correlate for antisocial and conventional criminal behaviors, but there is limited research investigating whether this extends to white-collar crime. Using longitudinal data ( n = 707,490) from multiple population-based Swedish registers and Cox proportional hazard regressions, results suggest that after accounting for demographic and criminality covariates, low RHR is not associated with white-collar criminality (aHR: 1.02, 95 % CI [0.99, 1.06]) whereas high RHR is associated with a lower risk of white-collar criminality (aHR: 0.92, 95 % CI [0.89, 0.95]), compared to average RHR. Findings indicate that low RHR is not associated with white-collar criminality, per se, but high RHR is a protective factor, reducing the risk of white-collar criminality. • High resting heart rate is associated with reduced risk of white-collar criminality. • Low resting heart rate is not associated with white-collar criminality. • Low resting heart rate may be more strongly linked to conventional criminality.