Smart kids more likely to develop alcohol problems later on

[Durandal]

IQ at age 10 may be linked to adult alcohol use
Study: People with high scores as kids more likely to have drinking problem
Reuters
updated 12:47 p.m. PT, Tues., Oct. 21, 2008
NEW YORK - Contrary to expectations, higher intelligence scores at age 10 may be associated with higher levels of alcohol intake and alcohol-related drinking problems during adulthood, study findings suggest.

Moreover, these associations appear "markedly stronger among women than among men," Dr. G. David Batty, from the University of Glasgow in Scotland, and colleagues report in the American Journal of Public Health.

However, "given that these findings ran counter to our expectations," the investigators call for further examination of this relationship.

Batty's team assessed associations between mental ability scores obtained when 8,170 boys and girls were 10 years old and their alcohol intake and alcohol problems when they were about 30 years old.

Of the 3,895 men and 4,148 women who reported drinking alcohol as adults, those with higher average scores on childhood mental ability tests were also more likely to have indications of alcohol problems in adulthood.

The association between higher mental ability in childhood and adulthood problem drinking became stronger among women than among men after allowing for socioeconomic factors such as social class during both childhood and adulthood.

Specifically, for every 15-point increase in childhood mental ability score, the likelihood of drinking problems increased 1.38 times for women, and 1.17 times for men

These unexpected findings, and the lack of other research in this area, indicate the need for "further examination of the relation between childhood IQ and adult drinking patterns," the investigators conclude.

[Andrew_Fireborn]

I'm not surprised.

As the saying goes; the smarter you are, the more you realize you're surrounded by absolute idiots.

[Samuel]

Why would the link be stronger in women?

There is some cause- I'm just not seeing it. Maybe increased intelligence makes you more suseptible to addicting substances?

[tim31]

I knew a very smart guy who, just on two years ago, keeled over and died from excess consumption.

[Winston Blake]

Maybe increased intelligence results in going to university, where some people end up partying a lot and thus drinking.

[salm]

Maybe increased intelligence results in going to university, where some people end up partying a lot and thus drinking.

That was exactly my thought.
Also certain university degree related jobs seem to encourage heavy drinking. Certain types of business weasels for example will go out and party with their customers and then sign the contract and stuff like that.

[The Duchess of Zeon]

I think it's stress. Women in particular suffer from extremely high stress in the workplace, thus explaining why they drink more. God knows there's some nights in the engineering programme where I face an alternative at night between drinking two or four ounces of port or madeira and having a cry-fest out of the sheer intensity of it all (and that from an A student in said programme), though I've never once in my life consumed more than that in a single evening. But I can see where the impulse comes from; the world is cruel, provides no method for emotional release, and business decorum in general seems better suited for males than females.

Since your level of intensity, of expectation and of demanded performance, rise with your position, it's natural that the more intelligent = more successful = more stressed out, a fairly natural progression. It would be interesting to see if it held true in more laid back countries outside of the Anglosphere, though, which has insane expectations of its workers. OTOH, there's a lot more misogyny in many of the laid-back, Gallic countries, which might end up making the final result just the same, if for slightly different reasons.

[Broomstick]

Why would the link be stronger in women?

There is some cause- I'm just not seeing it. Maybe increased intelligence makes you more suseptible to addicting substances?

Because women have to deal with some shit men don't*, and some of those women use alcohol as an escape, a painkiller, and so on.

* For the clueless: sexism, lower pay, vastly increased risk of rape, and in the US higher health care costs. That's just off the top of my head.

[Dooey Jo]

I guess that means high IQ doesn't automatically make you smart

One factor might be smart kids being seen as nerds and feel a need to prove that they're as cool as everyone else, and therefore has to drink and party twice as much as them. After all, drinking at a low age does increase the likelihood for drinking problems later on.

[Broomstick]

I wonder if there's a correlation between high IQ and depression? That might be another factor, as some depressives self-medicate with alcohol

[Samuel]

But that wouldn't make the increase higher. With more shit, the base rate should be higher.

[General Zod]

Ironically, the article in the OP reminded me of this study I saw a week or two ago. I don't recall it being posted on here. High IQ leads to drinking, but drinking leads to smaller brain mass, apparently.

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 15 (HealthDay News) -- Unlike studies in the cardiovascular literature demonstrating a beneficial effect, moderate alcohol consumption was not protective against age-related differences in total cerebral brain volume (TCBV) and was, in fact, associated with decreases in TCBV, according to a report in the October issue of the Archives of Neurology.

Carol Ann Paul, of Wellesley College in Wellesley, Mass., and colleagues examined the influence of alcohol intake on brain volume using 1,839 subjects from the Framingham Offspring Study who underwent MRI of the brain between 1999 and 2001. Multivariate linear regression models were used to evaluate the association between five categories of alcohol consumption and TCBV, adjusting for multiple covariates.

Alcohol consumption was generally low, but men were more likely to be moderate or heavy drinkers, the researchers report. The investigators found a significant negative linear relationship between alcohol consumption and TCBV, but this finding was modified by gender. The relationship between alcohol consumption and TCBV was stronger in women than in men.

"In contrast to studies on cardiovascular disease, this study found that moderate alcohol consumption was not protective against normal age-related differences in total brain volume," Paul and colleagues conclude. "Instead, higher levels of alcohol consumption were consistently associated with smaller brain volume after adjusting for covariates." The authors add that "the public health effect of this study gives a clear message about the possible dangers of drinking alcohol."

[Big Orange]

I can see why many creative, talented people in the arts and entertainment industry universally seem to have their inner demons and destructive addictions (like the seemingly grounded Mark Speight being involved in a out of the blue drug scandal involving a spouse's death which directly led to his suicide).

[Eleas]

I wonder if there's a correlation between high IQ and depression? That might be another factor, as some depressives self-medicate with alcohol

The incidence of depression rises with IQ, as I recall. I can't provide a study for that at the drop of a hat, alas. Five minutes of Googling suggests there is some contention about whether high intelligence allows for greater ability to cope with mental issues, or whether it makes it easier for the mind to go into a tailspin. Anecdotally, as for what I've seen among my friends, all well above the average in this regard, I can only offer the observation that none of us is without a mental issue of some kind. That doesn't necessarily mean there's a correlation.

I have, however, noticed that intelligence is a very broad term. A boundlessly creative person may feel intense anguish if and when he cannot produce at a sufficient pace; a perceptive person may be unable to not notice everything wrong around her; another will get tangled up in the worst what-ifs and maybes imaginable. I've heard depression described as "the mind fooling itself." Now, assuming that theory is valid, why should a smarter mind handle such a situation better? Perhaps it would be more resilient and clever, but it would also be better at generating false but plausible data.

Another anecdotal point was supplied by my girlfriend, who, while spending time in the mental ward, was told by a nurse how most of their patients were well above average intelligence. Her acerbic comment was, "you people think too much."

[Pelranius]

I've been drinking heavily since I came here to college, to the point that I frankly have an alcohol problem now. Bowdoin has a lot more heavy male drinkers, but I think that might be due to the tight social circle of a small liberals arts college. I imagine people would feel a lot more vulnerable and alienated in a larger state school.

[Alyrium Denryle]

Well this makes sense. Grad students are almost uniformly drunk bastards, myself included. For us, studying is a social activity which includes drinking. Reading group happens at the local pub on 1 dollar well nights.

More broadly high intelligence does not correspond to an increased ability to handle stress, but higher intelligence does correlated to being in more stress.

[Pelranius]

Well this makes sense. Grad students are almost uniformly drunk bastards, myself included. For us, studying is a social activity which includes drinking. Reading group happens at the local pub on 1 dollar well nights.

More broadly high intelligence does not correspond to an increased ability to handle stress, but higher intelligence does correlated to being in more stress.

Well, there are other worse ways of taking out stress. I think that drinking would be preferable to snorting coke, for one.

It's a good thing that I like to study in my dorm, then and our study groups are almost in the library where booze is a no no. On the other hand, I regularly stash booze in my room and use it as an escape. Did that last night due to relationship problems. At least I refuse to chug beers so far.

[chitoryu12]

I'm not surprised.

As the saying goes; the smarter you are, the more you realize you're surrounded by absolute idiots.

I can understand that. I'm a top student at Lake Mary and one of the youngest people in my grade. Almost all of my peers are below me both in intellect and maturity, so I spend most of my days basically in amazement at how utterly inept my class is. It's so bad that our vocabulary books have words such as "inept" and "aura" in an 11th grade honors class, and some people in there still have trouble on the tests.

Usually, this leads to the more intelligent students staying in their own little groups because it's difficult for them to make friends or find something in common with the general populace when the general populace has the collective intelligence of boiled spinach. You end up talking to people and realizing that they're morons and mostly cookie-cutter high schoolers, and it's not fun finding it hard to make friends when the whole time you talk you're thinking "How the hell did this person get in an honors-level class?"

[Knife]

Putting young people in high stress will do that to ya. College kids drink a lot for all sorts of reasons just like the military. In fact there used to be an old saying about stress and deployment since there was a lack of things to do. You could drink, you could exercise or you could go to church. Pick any two. Why not exact it does describe the idea that when people with little outlet to blow off steam have few avenues to do so.

[Schuyler Colfax]

I can understand that. I'm a top student at Lake Mary and one of the youngest people in my grade.

Considering you're from Florida that's like saying I'm the smartest one in the bottom of my class.

I honestly feel that I've dumbed down quite a bit since moving here. I went from being a hard working smart guy to a procrastinating example of complete and utter mediocrity. Seriously the fact that I'm used to waking up at 6 to finish (or start) my homework is beyond fucked up. I mean for fuck sake I'm taking Drawing, granted I am required to take an art class, but still.

[chitoryu12]

I can understand that. I'm a top student at Lake Mary and one of the youngest people in my grade.

Considering you're from Florida that's like saying I'm the smartest one in the bottom of my class.

I honestly feel that I've dumbed down quite a bit since moving here. I went from being a hard working smart guy to a procrastinating example of complete and utter mediocrity. Seriously the fact that I'm used to waking up at 6 to finish (or start) my homework is beyond fucked up. I mean for fuck sake I'm taking Drawing, granted I am required to take an art class, but still.

Everyone gets dumbed by Florida. The difference is that I can make up for that. Hell, I was qualified for their gifted program, but I refused to enter it.

[Alyrium Denryle]

I can understand that. I'm a top student at Lake Mary and one of the youngest people in my grade.

Considering you're from Florida that's like saying I'm the smartest one in the bottom of my class.

I honestly feel that I've dumbed down quite a bit since moving here. I went from being a hard working smart guy to a procrastinating example of complete and utter mediocrity. Seriously the fact that I'm used to waking up at 6 to finish (or start) my homework is beyond fucked up. I mean for fuck sake I'm taking Drawing, granted I am required to take an art class, but still.

Everyone gets dumbed by Florida. The difference is that I can make up for that. Hell, I was qualified for their gifted program, but I refused to enter it.

Then you cheated yourself

[chitoryu12]

Then you cheated yourself

Not really. Have you seen their gifted program? Up until high school they're mostly kept seperate from the rest of the school. I've known a lot of kids in the program since elementary school, along with about half a dozen adults who were in the program, and the majority of them are socially-underdeveloped because they've never had much chance to really meet anyone who wasn't in the program. They've been with the same kids for almost a decade.

Also, the curriculum isn't what you would expect. They actually learn about the same amount of material and about the same content as someone who just takes honors classes, but learned at different times. In fact, they use the standard classes' books for a lot of it, and I've personally looked over some of the assignments and notes. My honors physics class is harder than the gifted ones. In some cases, the curriculum was almost identical to the STANDARD classes. The program actually has very little benefit for the kids in it other than having the word "Gifted" on their transcripts. The intelligence you would assume from a gifted student rarely manifests itself in a way that would benefit them in anything other than a purely academic environment because they were raised with the same people and made to focus on schoolwork above social interaction for years.

[chitoryu12]

To add on something I thought I should put in my last paragraph, the Central Florida gifted program, unless they've recently changed it, does not offer any benefit for college admission, including scholarships. Unless they see that the kid was in the gifted program and decide that it automatically equates intelligence, you get nada.

[Col. Crackpot]

A lot of booze hounds in my industry, and not just the sales weasels. Underwriters, brokers compliance officers... stress makes for quite a thirst for booze. I have kids now, so no time for booze. Had i got into this business earlier...