This advantage common to intelligent people, according to a study
Can IQ impact our mental health? This is the question that researchers from the Netherlands asked themselves. A study published in the journal Behaviors Genetics and carried out by researchers at the University of Amsterdam, revealed an association between a “intelligence higher and reduced risk of psychopathology, mainly due to common genetic factors.”
Concretely, this means that two people with common genetics and superior intelligence are less likely to have mental health disorders. Mind-blowing, isn’t it? This study also specifies that phenomena such as anxiety, stress or depression have been noted in people with below-average intelligence. But then, what does “being intelligent” mean?
Intelligence : késako ?
No, being intelligent does not mean that you are more stupid than anyone else. This notion is much more subtle. It reveals the ability to learn, understand and apply knowledge to solve problems. This encompasses various cognitive functions such as reasoning, memory and decision-making.
But intelligence is not just about solving problems: “It also includes the ability to adapt to new situations and environments in all areas of life.” The study thus highlighted a link between “individuals with lower intelligence scores and a higher risk of developing a variety of mental health problems, including anxiety, depression, and behavioral disorders.”
What is the link between intelligence, mental health and genetics?
Then, to understand in more depth the link between intelligence and the genetic factor, Susanne Bruins, author of the study, and her team, examined the link between intelligence and five aspects of psychopathology in several groups of seven-year-old twins, as reported by the media Psypost. While intelligence was assessed through exercises, psychopathological aspects were analyzed based on several criteria: negative affect, anxiety, oppositional defiant disorder, autism and mental deficit disorder. attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), which includes attention problems, hyperactivity, and impulsive behavior. Result ? All five groups of psychopathological symptoms analyzed were slightly less common in participants with higher intelligence.
The author of the study said: “we found that intelligence was negatively correlated with negative affect, anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), ADHD, and autism. These correlations partly reflected common genetic effects, the genetic factors that increase intelligence decreases psychopathology Genetic and environmental effects on negative affect and anxiety were moderated by intelligence, such that the heritability of anxiety and negative affect was higher in children having an IQ [quotient intellectuel] weaker.”
Despite this observation, other factors can disrupt these conclusions and thus a so-called “intelligent” person can still suffer from mental health disorders. A surprising study, which requires further research to draw a real conclusion.