Longevity of poor people correlated with IQ

17. March 2009 by admin.

A reported large-scale population study by Scottish researchers indicates that longevity is highly correlated with childhood intelligence quotient, especially for people who grow up in poorer neighborhoods.  A thousand people were followed during a 70-year span.  During a 25 year interval  “— 51 percent of the men and 38 percent of the women in the study died. In simple terms, there was a 17 percent greater chance of death for every 15 points of lower childhood IQ. After adjusting for deprivation and social class, this difference was reduced to 12 percent.  These adjustments separated socioeconomic effects from IQ and explained some, but not all, of the differences associated with lower IQ.”  The reasons for this effect are not clear.  One possibility according to the study authors is that poorer people with lower childhood IQ lead more deprived lives and are more vulnerable to diseases and other causes of death.  Another possibility is that low childhood IQ combined with poverty was correlated with low childhood health in the first place leading to increased mortality.  I suggest a third possibility: that members of the higher IQ group had more willingness, commitment and capability to pay attention to their health and longevity and that this effect transcended socioeconomic class.

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