Hostname: page-component-788cddb947-pt5lt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-10-07T09:52:18.588Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The relationship between happiness and intelligent quotient: the contribution of socio-economic and clinical factors

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 September 2012

A. Ali ,
G. Ambler ,
A. Strydom ,
D. Rai ,
C. Cooper ,
S. McManus ,
S. Weich ,
H. Meltzer ,
S. Dein  and
A. Hassiotis
A. Ali*
Affiliation:
Mental Health Sciences Unit, University College London, Charles Bell House, London, UK
G. Ambler
Affiliation:
Department of Statistical Science, University College London, London, UK
A. Strydom
Affiliation:
Mental Health Sciences Unit, University College London, Charles Bell House, London, UK
D. Rai
Affiliation:
Academic Unit of Psychiatry, School of Social and Community Medicine, University of Bristol, Oakfield House, Clifton, Bristol, UK
C. Cooper
Affiliation:
Mental Health Sciences Unit, University College London, Charles Bell House, London, UK
S. McManus
Affiliation:
National Centre for Social Research, London, UK
S. Weich
Affiliation:
Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK
H. Meltzer
Affiliation:
Department of Health Sciences, College of Medicine, Biological Sciences and Psychology, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK
S. Dein
Affiliation:
Mental Health Sciences Unit, University College London, Charles Bell House, London, UK
A. Hassiotis
Affiliation:
Mental Health Sciences Unit, University College London, Charles Bell House, London, UK
*
*Address for correspondence: A. Ali, Department of Mental Health Sciences, University College London, 2nd Floor Charles Bell House, 67–73 Riding House Street, London W1W 7EY, UK. (Email: afia.ali@ucl.ac.uk)
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Background

Happiness and higher intelligent quotient (IQ) are independently related to positive health outcomes. However, there are inconsistent reports about the relationship between IQ and happiness. The aim was to examine the association between IQ and happiness and whether it is mediated by social and clinical factors.

Method

The authors analysed data from the 2007 Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey in England. The participants were adults aged 16 years or over, living in private households in 2007. Data from 6870 participants were included in the study. Happiness was measured using a validated question on a three-point scale. Verbal IQ was estimated using the National Adult Reading Test and both categorical and continuous IQ was analysed.

Results

Happiness is significantly associated with IQ. Those in the lowest IQ range (70–99) reported the lowest levels of happiness compared with the highest IQ group (120–129). Mediation analysis using the continuous IQ variable found dependency in activities of daily living, income, health and neurotic symptoms were strong mediators of the relationship, as they reduced the association between happiness and IQ by 50%.

Conclusions

Those with lower IQ are less happy than those with higher IQ. Interventions that target modifiable variables such as income (e.g. through enhancing education and employment opportunities) and neurotic symptoms (e.g. through better detection of mental health problems) may improve levels of happiness in the lower IQ groups.

Keywords

Borderline intellectual impairmenthappiness and wellbeingintellectual abilityintelligent quotient
Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 43 , Issue 6 , June 2013 , pp. 1303 - 1312
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abdel-Khalek, AM (2006). Measuring happiness with a single item scale. Social Behavior and Personality 34, 139–150.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Angner, E, Ray, MN, Saag, KG, Allison, JJ (2009). Health and happiness among older adults: a community based study. Journal of Health Psychology 14, 503–512.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Baron, RM, Kenny, DA (1986). The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: conceptual, strategic and statistical considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 51, 1173–1182.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Baron-Epel, O (2004). Self-reported health. In Encyclopedia of Health and Behavior (ed. Anderson, N. B.), pp. 714–719. Sage: Thousand Oaks, CA.Google Scholar
Batty, DG, Der, G, Macintyre, S, Deary, IJ (2006). Does IQ explain socioeconomic inequalities in health? Evidence from a population based cohort study in the west of Scotland. British Medical Journal 332, 580–584.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bok, D (2010). The Politics of Happiness: What Governments Can Learn from the New Research on Wellbeing. Princeton University Press: Princeton, NJ.Google Scholar
Bray, DW, Howard, A (1980). Career success and life satisfactions of middle aged managers. In Competence and Coping During Adulthood(ed. Bond, L. A. and Rosen, J. C.), pp. 258–287. University Press of New England: Hanover, NH.Google Scholar
Brewin, CR, Wing, JK (1989). Manual of the MRC Needs for Care Assessment. MRC Social Psychiatry Unit, Institute of Psychiatry: London.Google Scholar
Brugha, TS, Bebbington, PE, Tennant, C, Hurry, J (1985). The list of threatening experiences: a subset of the 12 life events categories with considerable long term contextual threat. Psychological Medicine 15, 189–194.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brugha, TS, Morgan, Z, Bebbington, P, Jenkins, R, Lewis, G, Farrell, M, Meltzer, H (2003). Social support networks and type of neurotic symptom among adults in British households. Psychological Medicine 33, 307–318.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Calvin, MC, Deary, IJ, Fenton, C, Roberts, BA, Der, G, Leckenby, N, Batty, D (2011). Intelligence in youth and all-cause-mortality: systematic review with meta-analysis. International Journal of Epidemiology 40, 626–644.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Campbell, FA, Ramey, CT, Pungello, EP, Sparling, J, Miller-Johnson, S (2002). Early childhood education: young adult outcomes from the Abecedarian Project. Applied Developmental Science 6, 42–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chan, YK, Lee, RPL (2006). Network size, social support and happiness in later life: a comparative study of Beijing and Hong Kong. Journal of Happiness Studies 7, 87–112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Childa, Y, Steptoe, A (2008). Positive psychological wellbeing and mortality: a quantitative review of prospective observational studies. Psychosomatic Medicine 70, 741–756.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cooper, C, Bebbington, P, King, M, Jenkins, R, Farrell, M, Brugha, T, McManus, S, Stewart, R, Livingston, G (2011 a). Happiness across age groups: results from the 2007 National Psychiatric Morbidity Survey. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry 26, 608–614.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cooper, C, Bebbington, P, Livingston, G (2011 b). Cognitive impairment and happiness in old people in low and middle income countries: results of the 10/66 study. Journal of Affective Disorders 130, 198–204.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Crawford, JR, Besson, JAO, Parker, DM, Sutherland, KM, Keen, PL (1987). Estimation of premorbid intellectual status in depression. British Journal of Clinical Psychology 26, 313–314.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Crawford, JR, Parker, DM, Besson, JAO (1988). Estimation of premorbid intelligence in organic conditions. British Journal of Psychiatry 153, 178–181.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Deary, IJ, Strand, S, Smith, P, Fernandes, C (2007). Intelligence and educational achievement. Intelligence 35, 13–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Diener, E, Oishi, S (2004). Are Scandinavians happier than Asians? Issues on comparing nations on subjective wellbeing. In Asian Economic and Political issues, 10th edn(ed. Columbus, F.), pp. 1–25. Nova Science: Hauppauge, NY.Google Scholar
Efron, B, Tibshirani, RJ (1994). An Introduction to the Bootstrap. Chapman and Hall, CRC Press LLC: Boca Raton, FL.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Emerson, E, Einfeld, S, Stancliff, RJ (2010). The mental health of young children with intellectual disabilities or borderline intellectual functioning. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 45, 579–587.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gale, CR, Hatch, SL, Batty, GD, Dreary, IJ (2009). Intelligence in childhood and risk of psychological distress in child hood: the 1958 National Child Development Survey and the 1970 British cohort study. Intelligence 37, 592–599.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gallup, G (1976). Human needs and satisfactions: a global survey. Public Opinion Quarterly 40, 459–467.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gottfredson, S, Deary, IJ (2004). Intelligence predicts health and longevity, but why? Current Directions in Psychological Science 13, 1–4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gow, AJ, Whiteman, MC, Pattie, A, Whalley, L, Starr, J, Deary, IJ (2005). Lifetime intellectual function and satisfaction with life in old age: longitudinal cohort study. British Medical Journal 331, 141–142.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Graney, MJ (1975). Happiness and social participation in aging. Journal of Gerontology 30, 701–706.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hassiotis, A, Strydom, A, Hall, I, Ali, A, Lawrence-Smith, G, Meltzer, H, Head, J, Bebbington, P (2008). Psychiatric morbidity and social functioning among adults with borderline intelligence living in private households. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research 52, 95–106.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hassiotis, A, Tanzarella, M, Bebbington, P, Cooper, C (2011). Prevalence and predictors of suicidal behaviour in a sample of adults with estimated borderline intellectual functioning: results from a population survey. Journal of Affective Disorders 129, 380–384.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Idler, EL, Benyamini, Y (1997). Self-rated health and mortality: a review of twenty seven community studies. Journal of Health and Social Behavior 38, 21–37.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jenkins, R, Meltzer, H, Bebbington, P, Brugha, T, Farrell, M, McManus, S, Singleton, N (2009). The British Mental Health Survey Programme: achievements and latest findings. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 44, 899–904.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jorm, AF, Duncan-Jones, P (1990). Neurotic symptoms and subjective well-being in a community sample: different sides of the same coin? Psychological Medicine 20, 647–654.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kahneman, D, Diener, E, Schwarz, N (1999). Wellbeing: The Foundations of Hedonic Psychology. Russell Sage Foundation Publications: New York.Google Scholar
Kashdan, TB, Biswas-Diener, R, King, LA (2008). Reconsidering happiness. The costs of distinguishing between hedonics and eudaimonia. Journal of Positive Psychology 3, 219–233.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kurland, BF, Gill, TM, Patrick, DL, Larson, EB, Phelan, EA (2006). Longitudinal change in positive affect in community dwellings in older persons. Journal of the American Geriatric Society 54, 1846–1853.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lewis, G, Pelosi, AJ, Araya, R, Dunn, G (1992). Measuring psychiatric disorder in the community: a standardized assessment for use by lay interviewers. Psychological Medicine 22, 465–486.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lundberg, O, Manderbacka, K (1996). Assessing reliability of a measure of self-rated health. Scandinavian Journal of Social Medicine 24, 218–224.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McManus, S, Meltzer, H, Brugha, T, Bebbington, P, Jenkins, R (editors) (2009). Adult Psychiatric Morbidity in England, 2007. Results of a Household Survey. NHS Information Centre for Health and Social Care: Leeds.Google Scholar
O'Carroll, R, Walker, M, Dunan, J, Murray, C, Blackwood, D, Ebmeier, KP, Goodwin, GM (1992). Selecting controls for schizophrenia research studies: the use of the National Adult Reading Test (NART) is a measure of premorbid ability. Schizophrenia Research 8, 137–141.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Palmore, EB, Luikart, C (1972). Health and social factors related to life satisfaction. Journal of Health and Social Behavior 13, 68–80.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schmidt, F, Hunter, J (2004). General mental ability in the world of work: occupational attainment and job performance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 86, 162–173.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Seligman, MEP, Steen, TA, Park, N, Peterson, C (2005). Positive psychology progress. Empirical validation of interventions. American Psychologist 60, 410–421.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Seltzer, MM, Floyd, F, Greenberg, J, Lounds, J, Lindstrom, M, Hong, J (2005). Life course impacts of mild intellectual deficits. American Journal of Mental Retardation 110, 451–468.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sigelman, L (1981). Is ignorance bliss? A reconsideration of the folk wisdom. Human Relations 34, 965–974.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Steptoe, A, Dockray, S, Wardle, J (2009). Positive affect and psychobiological processes relevant to health. Journal of Personality 77, 1747–1776.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Subramanian, SV, Kim, D, Kawachi, I (2005). Covariation in the socioeconomic determinants of self rated health and happiness: a multivariate multilevel analysis of individuals and communities in the USA. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 59, 664–669.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Washburne, JN (1941). Factors related to the social adjustment of college girls. Journal of Social Psychology 13, 281–289.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Waterman, AS (1993). Two conceptions of happiness: contrasts of personal expressiveness (eudaimonia) and hedonic enjoyment. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 64, 678–691.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Watten, RG, Myhrer, T, Swersen, JL (1995). Quality of life, intelligence and mood. Social Indicators Research 36, 287–299.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weich, S, Brugha, T, King, M, McManus, S, Bebbington, P, Jenkins, R, Cooper, C, McBride, O, Stewart-Brown, S (2011). Mental well-being and mental illness: findings from the Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey for England 2007. British Journal of Psychiatry 199, 23–28.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wessman, AE, Ricks, DF (1966). Mood and Personality. Holt: New York.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Ali Supplementary Material

Appendix

Download Ali Supplementary Material(File)
File 46.6 KB