JOURNAL ARTICLE

When stressed, you might get depressed-but will you also commit crime? Between-person correlations, within-person changes, and what criminology might get wrong about stress.

  • Published In: Mental Health Weekly Digest, 2026. P. 1504 1 of 2

  • Database: Psychology Source 2 of 2

Abstract

This article focuses on a study examining the relationship between stress, mental health, and criminal behavior using panel data from Bangladesh. The research supports sociological stress process theories by confirming that increased stress predicts negative emotions but finds no evidence that changes in stress cause changes in criminal intentions within individuals over time. The findings suggest that previously observed correlations between stress and crime may result from selection into stressful environments rather than a direct causal effect of stress on criminal behavior. The study highlights methodological concerns about relying solely on between-person correlations to infer causality in criminology. [Extracted from the article]

Additional Information

  • Source:Mental Health Weekly Digest. 2026/03, p1504
  • Document Type:Article
  • Subject Area:Law
  • Publication Date:2026
  • ISSN:1543-6616
  • Accession Number:192122565
  • Copyright Statement:Copyright of Mental Health Weekly Digest is the property of NewsRx and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Looking to go deeper into this topic? Look for more articles on EBSCOhost.