Today 04:02 AM
The ‘breaking bad’ effect is real: Data shows cancer diagnoses drive a 14% spike in criminal behavior
https://www.zmescience.com/science/news-...-hehavior/
EXCERPTS: We all know the story of Walter White from the hit TV series Breaking Bad. Faced with a terminal lung cancer diagnosis and a financially precarious future for his family, the mild-mannered high school chemistry teacher transforms into a drug kingpin. It is one of television’s most compelling stories ever, exploring how a sudden health shock can strip away moral guardrails and unleash pure chaos.
But is the “Breaking Bad” effect real? Do some law-abiding citizens actually turn to crime when their bodies turn against them? According to a fascinating new study by economists Steffen Andersen, Elin Colmsjö, Gianpaolo Parise, and Kim Peijnenburg, the answer is a resounding — and quantified — yes.
Using a massive dataset from Denmark, the researchers have uncovered a startling correlation: a cancer diagnosis increases the probability of committing a crime by approximately 14%. This phenomenon suggests just how fragile our adherence to the social contract can be when we are faced with imminent death from disease and the often-inadequate healthcare we think we’re entitled to.
[...] Interestingly, while low-income individuals showed a larger absolute increase in crime, high-income households actually showed a larger relative increase. This counterintuitive finding highlights the structure of the local safety net: in Denmark, social benefits are capped. High earners who get sick experience a much sharper drop in income relative to their lifestyle than low earners do, potentially creating a greater sense of relative deprivation.
Perhaps most curiously, patients who sought psychological help after their diagnosis were 2.5 times more likely to commit crimes than those who didn’t. This may seem to defy logic, but the researchers argue this variable acts as a distress signal rather than a cause... (MORE - missing details)
https://www.zmescience.com/science/news-...-hehavior/
EXCERPTS: We all know the story of Walter White from the hit TV series Breaking Bad. Faced with a terminal lung cancer diagnosis and a financially precarious future for his family, the mild-mannered high school chemistry teacher transforms into a drug kingpin. It is one of television’s most compelling stories ever, exploring how a sudden health shock can strip away moral guardrails and unleash pure chaos.
But is the “Breaking Bad” effect real? Do some law-abiding citizens actually turn to crime when their bodies turn against them? According to a fascinating new study by economists Steffen Andersen, Elin Colmsjö, Gianpaolo Parise, and Kim Peijnenburg, the answer is a resounding — and quantified — yes.
Using a massive dataset from Denmark, the researchers have uncovered a startling correlation: a cancer diagnosis increases the probability of committing a crime by approximately 14%. This phenomenon suggests just how fragile our adherence to the social contract can be when we are faced with imminent death from disease and the often-inadequate healthcare we think we’re entitled to.
[...] Interestingly, while low-income individuals showed a larger absolute increase in crime, high-income households actually showed a larger relative increase. This counterintuitive finding highlights the structure of the local safety net: in Denmark, social benefits are capped. High earners who get sick experience a much sharper drop in income relative to their lifestyle than low earners do, potentially creating a greater sense of relative deprivation.
Perhaps most curiously, patients who sought psychological help after their diagnosis were 2.5 times more likely to commit crimes than those who didn’t. This may seem to defy logic, but the researchers argue this variable acts as a distress signal rather than a cause... (MORE - missing details)