Research found a person’s IQ during high school is predictive of alcohol consumption later in life. Participants with higher IQ levels were significantly more likely to be moderate or heavy drinkers, as opposed to abstaining.

https://www.utsouthwestern.edu/newsroom/articles/year-2024/oct-high-school-iq-and-alcohol-use.html

13 Comments

  1. A person’s IQ during high school is predictive of alcohol consumption later in life, according to a study by UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers published in Alcohol and Alcoholism. Participants with higher IQ levels were significantly more likely to be moderate or heavy drinkers, as opposed to abstaining.

    “We’re not saying that your IQ in high school controls your destiny,” said senior author E. Sherwood Brown, M.D., Ph.D., M.B.A., Distinguished Teaching Professor of Psychiatry and in the Peter O’Donnell Jr. Brain Institute at UT Southwestern. “But IQ levels could lead to intervening social factors that influence drinking, and it’s an important mechanism to explore. Higher IQ seemed to predict a greater likelihood of being a moderate or heavy drinker but not a binge drinker.”

    Although Dr. Brown and UTSW colleagues have conducted numerous studies about alcohol use disorder, he said this is the first to examine predictors of drinking patterns.

    Alcohol consumption is on the rise among adults, with excessive drinking linked to high blood pressure, cancer, stroke, and other diseases as people age. At the same time, Dr. Brown explained, some research comparing abstinence with moderate drinking has found a link between cognitive ability and future alcohol use.

    “That led me to wonder, if alcohol influences cognition, could cognition affect alcohol consumption?” he said.

    [https://academic.oup.com/alcalc/article-abstract/59/4/agae035/7683100?redirectedFrom=fulltext&login=false](https://academic.oup.com/alcalc/article-abstract/59/4/agae035/7683100?redirectedFrom=fulltext&login=false)

  2. challengeaccepted9 on

    Explains why Trump is teetotal, I guess. More worryingly, raises questions about why I drink so little… 

  3. > Alcohol consumption is on the rise among adults

    Where? Alcohol consumption has been steadily falling in Europe. Between 2010-2020 it fell by half a litre per capita.

  4. Battailous_Joint on

    It “may predict” not “it’s predictive”. There’s also mediation going on.

  5. You should try working in the academic field. Bunch of brainiacs that ostracize you if you drink or smoke. While being both extremely high-demanding and disrespectful.

    It’s not a fun combo.

  6. FireWaterSquaw on

    It doesn’t specify what they are drinking. I would wager they are drinking actual liquors or wines and not brews.

  7. I am curios if the study was funded by someone with an agenda like glamorizing alcohol or someone starting out with a idea and cherry picking facts to support their conclusion.

  8. ErictheAgnostic on

    To be somewhat intelligent and remain sober while watching the world operate is nye impossible.