ArticleIntelligence
Intelligence in youth and health behaviours in middle age.
Article in Intelligence. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 27 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
27 citing papers in PubMed, 56 citations in OpenAlex.
- Cognitive function in childhood and cardiovascular disease risk factors up to 6 decades later: Pooled data from two birth cohort studies.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2026Article
- Early-life influences on the risk for later-life Alzheimer's and non-Alzheimer's dementia: A nearly full life course prospective cohort study.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2026Article
- Adolescent IQ and performance-based measures of physical function in old age: a 54-year longitudinal study.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2025Article
- Intellectual capability and its association with severe dental caries treatment needs in young Israeli adults: a cross-sectional record-based study.Israel journal of health policy research · 2025Article
- Tobacco smoking in a high-IQ society in Indonesia.Tobacco induced diseases · 2025Article
- Multivariate prediction of cognitive performance from the sleep electroencephalogram.NeuroImage · 2023Article
- Can Intelligence Affect Alcohol-, Smoking-, and Physical Activity-Related Behaviors? A Mendelian Randomization Study.Journal of Intelligence · 2023Article
- High intelligence is not associated with a greater propensity for mental health disorders.European psychiatry : the journal of the Association of European Psychiatrists · 2022Article
- Article
- Do Physical Activity, BMI, and Wellbeing Affect Logical Thinking?International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Adherence to the MIND diet is associated with 12-year all-cause mortality in older adults.Public health nutrition · 2022Article
- Novel behavioral model in evaluating initiation and sustenance of teeth brushing behavior among students pursuing health sciences: a cross-sectional study.F1000Research · 2022Article
- Prenatal Exposure to Nonpersistent Chemical Mixtures and Offspring IQ and Emotional and Behavioral Problems.Environmental science & technology · 2021Article
- An epigenetic predictor of death captures multi-modal measures of brain health.Molecular psychiatry · 2021Article
- Intelligence, health and death.Nature human behaviour · 2021Review
- Article
- Subjective Socioeconomic Status, Cognitive Abilities, and Personal Control: Associations With Health Behaviours.Frontiers in psychology · 2021Article
- Body mass index and height in relation to type 2 diabetes by levels of intelligence and education in a large cohort of Danish men.European journal of epidemiology · 2020Article
- Phthalate and Bisphenol Exposure during Pregnancy and Offspring Nonverbal IQ.Environmental health perspectives · 2020Article
- Adolescent Substance Use and the Brain: Behavioral, Cognitive and Neuroimaging Correlates.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveWe investigated the association between intelligence in youth and a range of health-related behaviours in middle age.
methodParticipants were the 5347 men and women who responded to the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY-79) 2012 survey. IQ was recorded with the Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT) when participants were aged 15 to 23 years of age. Self-reports on exercise (moderate activity, vigorous activity, and strength training), dietary, smoking, drinking, and oral health behaviours were recorded when participants were in middle age (mean age = 51.7 years). A series of regression analyses tested for an association between IQ in youth and the different health related behaviours in middle age, while adjusting for childhood socio-economic status (SES) and adult SES.
resultsHigher IQ in youth was significantly associated with the following behaviours that are beneficial to health: being more likely to be able to do moderate cardiovascular activity (Odds Ratio, 95% CI) (1.72, 1.35 to 2.20,
conclusionIn the present study, a higher IQ in adolescence was associated with a number of healthier behaviours in middle age. In contrast to these results, a few associations were also identified between higher intelligence and behaviours that may or may not be linked with poor health (i.e. skipping meals and snacking between meals) and with behaviours that are known to be linked with poor health (i.e. drinking alcohol and the number of cigarettes smoked). To explore mechanisms of association, future studies could test for a range of health behaviours as potential mediators between IQ and morbidity or mortality in later life.
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.