Biosocial Risk Factors for Academic Dishonesty: Testing a New Mediation Model in Young Adults

• Author: Anna S. Rudo-Hutt,Kate Legee,Jill Portnoy,Adrian Raine,Olivia Choy
• DOI: 10.1177/1043986218810590
• Date: 01 February 2019
• Published date: 01 February 2019
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/1043986218810590

Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice

2019, Vol. 35(1) 21 –35

© The Author(s) 2018

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DOI: 10.1177/1043986218810590

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Article

Biosocial Risk Factors for

Academic Dishonesty:

Testing a New Mediation

Model in Young Adults

Jill Portnoy1, Kate Legee1, Adrian Raine2,

Olivia Choy3, and Anna S. Rudo-Hutt4

Abstract

Researchers increasingly recognize that biological risk factors contribute to the

development of antisocial behavior. Although academic dishonesty is a pervasive

problem, this type of antisocial behavior has not been investigated in biosocial

research. This article addresses this limitation by examining the relationship between

academic dishonesty and resting heart rate in a sample of undergraduates (N =

149, 65.69% female, M age = 19.62 years). Subjects completed self-report academic

dishonesty questionnaires, and heart rate was measured during a resting period. Low

resting heart rate was associated with more frequent and varied academic dishonesty

in females, but not in males. Self-control and sensation seeking, but not fearlessness,

mediated this relationship in females. To our knowledge, this is the first study to

examine a biological risk factor for academic dishonesty. This is also the first study

to examine self-control as a possible mediator of the resting heart rate–antisocial

behavior relationship in adults. Findings suggest a potential pathway in young adults

through which low resting heart rate may affect antisocial behavior.

Keywords

academic dishonesty, resting heart rate, autonomic, self-control

Studies have estimated that more than 50% of students engage in academically dishon-

est behavior at some point in their academic careers (Pino & Smith, 2003). As a result,

1University of Massachusetts Lowell, MA, USA

2University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA

3Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

4Child Mind Institute, New York, NY, USA

Corresponding Author:

Jill Portnoy, School of Criminology and Justice Studies, University of Massachusetts Lowell, 113 Wilder

Street, Lowell, MA 01854, USA.

Email: jill_portnoy@uml.edu

810590CCJXXX10.1177/1043986218810590Journal of Contemporary Criminal JusticePortnoy et al.

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