American Journal of Epidemiology Vol. 144, No. 5: 463-472
Copyright © 1996 by The Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health
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Sensation-Seeking, Criminality, and Spinal Cord injury: A Case-Control Study
1Post Office Box 1329, Abita Springs, LA
2Former address: Department of Medicine, Louisiana State University Medical Center, New Orleans, LA
3Section of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Department of Medicine, Louisiana State University Medical Center, New Orleans, LA
4Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Tulane University New Orleans, LA
5Department of Psychology, Loyola University New Orleans, LA
Reprint request to Dr. Anthony R. Mawson, P. O. Box 1329, Abita Springs, LA 70420
A retrospective case-control study was performed in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1985–1986 to test the hypotheses that 1) criminality is a risk factor for severe injury, and 2) the association between criminality and injury can be explained in terms of a common underlying factor—increased sensation-seeking tendencies. A total of 140 males with spinal cord injury were individually matched with 140 driver's license holders on age, race, sex, educational attainment, and zip code of residence and were interviewed by telephone. Criminality prior to spinal cord injury was measured by self-report and police records, and sensation seeking was measured by the Disinhibition and Boredom Susceptibility subscales of Zuckerman's Sensation-Seeking Scale (Form V). Those with spinal cord injuries were significantly more likely than controls to report a history of juvenile delinquency, adult criminality, and incarceration prior to the time of spinal cord injury. Statistically significant but modest differences were also found between cases and controls with respect to Disinhibition, Boredom Susceptibility, and the combined Sensation-Seeking Scale score. Matched-pairs logistic regression analysis indicated that the association between sensation seeking and spinal cord injury remained significant after controlling for criminality, with an estimated relative risk of 2.05 (95% confidence interval 1.67–2.53). However, the association between criminality and spinal cord injury also remained significant after controlling for sensation seeking (estimated relative risk = 2.04, 95% confidence interval 1.09–3.82). On the basis of these results, criminality and sensation seeking may be statistically significant but independent predictors of spinal cord injury. Am J Epidemiol 1996; 144: 463-72.
behavior; crime; spinal cord injuries
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