Clever People Drink More
Smarter children tend to drink more alcohol more often than their less intelligent counterparts in adult life. That’s the finding of a recent study of data from the National Child Development Study (NCDS):
“More intelligent children, both in the United Kingdom and the United States, grow up to consume alcohol more frequently and in greater quantities than less intelligent children. Controlling for a large number of demographic variables, such as sex, race, ethnicity, religion, marital status, number of children, education, earnings, depression, satisfaction with life, frequency of socialization with friends, number of recent sex partners, childhood social class, mother’s education, and father’s education, more intelligent children grow up to drink more alcohol in the UK and the US… ‘Very bright’ British children grow up to consume alcohol nearly one full standard deviation more frequently than their ‘very dull’ classmates.”
However, as with all correlations, this one should not be confused with causation. And drinking a lot does not mean you were a smart kid. Nor do all smart kids grow up to be heavy drinkers.
Via Neatorama.
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