Clever Children 'likelier to take drugs'

[jholden40]

Link to an article that appeared in UK press today - make of it what you will ...

Clever children 'likelier to take drugs' - Health News - Health & Families - The Independent

[Kexessa]

Interesting. The article says, "One possible explanation is that more intelligent people are more likely to get bored or to suffer at the hands of their peers, either of which could lead to experimenting with drugs, he suggested."

I'm no expert, but I would think it's probably related to they have a better job, therefore make more money, enabling them to afford a 'habit' or to experiment, and said job they hate which causes them to look for other outlets, leading to using or experimenting.

They also probably think they are too smart to become an addict, that there is nothing wrong with 'blowing off some steam' and it's a little cleaner and easier to hide, then say drinking, when they are at the job they hate to make the money that causes the need for the outlet that leads to the drug use to begin with.

Something like that.

[Aliceinwonderland]

Well that certainly explains everything! I discovered drugs much later on in life (I was a late developer) so I must be super, super clever

[jholden40]

@Aliceinwonderland
I think you're kind of getting this a bit of wrong (insert shaking head and sighing with patronising grin icon)

But it's nice that you're happy

[billyboy1965]

I agree with @Kexessa and @Aliceinwonderland . Certainly explains my abuse of pharmaceuticals as a high school and college student

I also think we extra smart people, Mozart, Michaelangelo, damn, even Elton John and Marilyn Monroe (they were no dummies) are borderline insane ~ I know, I know, weird theory ~ and it's an attempt to self medicate.

Whole problem is, the article appeared in the UK press ... so what kind of credibility is that

[jholden40]

Incontinence is certainly becoming an issue these days.

[lbz]

being a thoughtful/intelligent person opens one up to a more extreme spectrum of human experience. extreme positive to extreme negative, fertile grounds for using chemicals to even the shifts.

[Aliceinwonderland]

[lang=it]Ha ha ha @jholden40 very funny [/lang]

[nincompoop]

They also probably think they are too smart to become an addict, that there is nothing wrong with 'blowing off some steam' and it's a little cleaner and easier to hide, then say drinking, when they are at the job they hate to make the money that causes the need for the outlet that leads to the drug use to begin with.

Something like that.

I think this line of thinking definitely has to do w/ it. Probably more to do with it than what the article offers up as the explanation.

While it's more comforting for those of us who use drugs or who need medication to think that indicates above-average intelligence, it seems like not quite what the study shows anyhow.

It shows that "Children who were in the top third in terms of IQ when aged five and 10" were most likely to have taken any illegal drug within a year of when they were surveyed as part of the study. They were surveyed at ages 16 and 30 though, so that's a very intelligent decision on the part of the researchers, cause people's drug habits foment around those periods of life I think.

Anyway, my point in bringing this all up is to say that it may be more than just IQ. I think that IQ is one (passable at best) way of measuring intelligence. I think it's biased towards measuring intelligence through spatial, mathematical, and logical standards that aren't understood the same way by every group or individual. I also think that in today's societies, everyone can attain a very high level of intelligence in some regard.

People who have social anxiety or OCD or something like that may become experts in some field because it's a way of being part of society by getting a job. That way they can be 'productive' by producing research and whatnot. Or people with schizophrenia or bipolar might be 'productive' by being artists or writers, etc, etc. These same groups of people are also more likely to take drugs. Maybe, ironically enough, some researchers involved in the study had drug habits/dependencies. I'm not sure that all of them would've had high iq's at age 5 and 10, but many of them would be regarded by their peers as highly intelligent. Encyclopedic knowledge of a field of study probably doesn't correlate with a high iq, although I'm not sure.

Anyways... despite the study's limits in terms of what it shows, I think the general idea of [some form of] intelligence leading to curiosity and also boredom, ennui, or even anomie being causes for drug use definitely seems plausible.

Also it's interesting how this British news outlet would put it, "clever children 'likelier' to take drugs". Who hasn't known plenty of clever children who ended up having awful adult lives, or clever children who maybe did drugs within the ages of 15-16 and 29-30 and then had super privileged, cushy lives. The study doesn't allow us to learn anything about the stereotype of the "drug addict" vs. those who keep their habits on the dl, or who have medicine legally prescribed to them that makes them dependent. It's also in reply to something else Kexessa said - that intelligent people would have better jobs and thus more money to buy drugs. I think that very well may be true of those who have high iq's at age 5 and 10... if y'know what I mean (they're already experiencing the effects of being more rich... that's why their IQ's are higher).

Cool study though, definitely thought provoking and worthwhile. I think these kind of things need to be studied and some serious conclusions could be made about intelligence, "mental illness", and drug use, as well as social status, etc. The more data the better. Unfortunately all the media can do vis-a-vis science is just be like "OH HI - this study proves X (where X is anything provocative or interesting or even readable)". I could go on, but I accidentally wrote a f'ing essay up there so...

[taralumia]

I like the "Cleverness" series. Where I live, the word isn't used much outside of children's fables. It's usually associated with a kind of naughty or sneaky character that somehow outwits others.

[jholden40]

@taralumia
I imagine the following scenario: a parent finding a dubious looking pill/powder in their son or daughter's washing. Confronted with the evidence and asked to explain themselves, the kid will try to wangle their way out by pulling up the above article and saying, 'But, Mum, it's not my fault, I can't help it - read this, it's because I'm clever ...'

[Nickel]

I've always equated earlier drug use with curiosity combined with a tendency to question authority. Perhaps those are also signs of high IQs, I don't know. I don't necessarily think of clever people as being, by default, intelligent.

[crucibelle]

being a thoughtful/intelligent person opens one up to a more extreme spectrum of human experience. extreme positive to extreme negative, fertile grounds for using chemicals to even the shifts.

I totally agree... best explanation IMO.

[bUrke]

I think it's the curiosity that sparks any type or form of drug use.. A person with a higher IQ typically has a higher sensitivity to curiosity and they are more prone to acting out on it. That is usually how they are so smart, the curiosity that resides within them is probably their best quality, iMHO..