Higher IQ in children linked to adult alcohol use
A British cohort study last month announced possible links between mental ability and test scores of kids and alcohol intake 20 years later. Not surprisingly, University of Glasgow researchers reported that kids with higher IQs may be more prone to drinking problems later in life. Children tested at age 10 with higher mental test scores also scored higher average intake of alcohol and more frequent drinking later in life. Plus, experts say, this association is stronger in women than men.”Men and women who said they drank on most days had the highest mean childhood ability score, whereas those who reported that they never had alcohol had the lowest mean mental ability score,” Dr. G. David Batty, from the University of Glasglow in Scotland, and colleagues as reported in the American Journal of Public Health.
So, it’s true!
But if brainy kids are more prone to become alcoholic, then what steps can we take to prevent them from the boredom, despair and anger associated with addiction … and offer meaningful alternatives to engaging addictive behaviour? And if alcohol use and problems in adulthood can be predicted by indicators of social background, adjustment and behaviour in childhood and adolescence…what can we do to help harmonize the social and internal environments of kids at risk?