Intelligence Predicts Health and Longevity, but Why?

Abstract

Large epidemiological studies of almost an entire population in Scotland have found that intelligence (as measured by an IQ-type test) in childhood predicts substantial differences in adult morbidity and mortality, including deaths from cancers and cardiovascular diseases. These relations remain significant after controlling for socioeconomic variables. One possible, partial explanation of these results is that intelligence enhances individuals' care of their own health because it represents learning, reasoning, and problem-solving skills useful in preventing chronic disease and accidental injury and in adhering to complex treatment regimens.

Social discounting rate is negatively correlated with fluid intelligence

“…Whether measured in childhood or adulthood, intelligence is predictive for the social status of occupation and income (correlation of 0.51 and 0.31, respectively) (Judge, Higgins, Thoresen & Barrick, 1999). Indirectly, the relationship between intelligence and access to resources is confirmed by studies that have shown the level of general intelligence to be correlated with offspring survival rates (Čvorović, Rushton & Tenjevic, 2008) and life span (Gottfredson & Deary, 2004;Rushton, 2004).…”

On the validity and generality of transfer effects in cognitive training research

“…The focus on older participants may in part be due to the assumption that deficits in executive control and inhibition are central determinants of age-related cognitive decline in general (e.g., Hasher, Stoltzfus, Zacks, & Rypma, 1991;West, 1996). Improvements in fluid abilities are a common aim of cognitive training procedures because of their strong association with scholastic success (e.g., Deary, Strand, Smith, & Fernandes, 2007), health, and longevity (Gottfredson & Deary, 2004). Tasks of inductive and deductive reasoning (n = 10) are central to fluid cognitive abilities (Cattell, 1972) and given "the difficulties of inducing transfer effects to reasoning ability following working memory training, an alternative approach is to train directly on tasks that load highly on reasoning ability."…”

Impaired Word and Face Recognition in Older Adults with Type 2 Diabetes

“…Indeed, low intelligence is considered a risk factor for DM2 and a range of other chronic conditions, possibly in part because such individuals may be more inclined to engage in adverse health behaviours that increase the risk of disease (32). Therefore, relatively lower intelligence could be considered an important mechanism underlying the cognitive deficits observed both in the present study and in other studies which have observed DM2-related cognitive deficits, and the between-group difference in NART scores should not detract from the important observation that face recognition is impaired in DM2.…”