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High intelligence is not associated with a greater propensity for mental health disorders

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 November 2022

Camille Michèle Williams*
Affiliation:
Laboratoire de Sciences Cognitives et Psycholinguistique, Département d’Études Cognitives, École Normale Supérieure, EHESS, CNRS, PSL University, 75005 Paris, France
Hugo Peyre
Affiliation:
Laboratoire de Sciences Cognitives et Psycholinguistique, Département d’Études Cognitives, École Normale Supérieure, EHESS, CNRS, PSL University, 75005 Paris, France INSERM UMR 1141, Paris Diderot University, Paris, France Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Robert Debré Hospital, APHP, Paris, France
Ghislaine Labouret
Affiliation:
Laboratoire de Sciences Cognitives et Psycholinguistique, Département d’Études Cognitives, École Normale Supérieure, EHESS, CNRS, PSL University, 75005 Paris, France
Judicael Fassaya
Affiliation:
Laboratoire de Sciences Cognitives et Psycholinguistique, Département d’Études Cognitives, École Normale Supérieure, EHESS, CNRS, PSL University, 75005 Paris, France
Adoración Guzmán García
Affiliation:
Laboratoire de Sciences Cognitives et Psycholinguistique, Département d’Études Cognitives, École Normale Supérieure, EHESS, CNRS, PSL University, 75005 Paris, France
Nicolas Gauvrit
Affiliation:
Human and Artificial Cognition Lab, Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Paris, France
Franck Ramus
Affiliation:
Laboratoire de Sciences Cognitives et Psycholinguistique, Département d’Études Cognitives, École Normale Supérieure, EHESS, CNRS, PSL University, 75005 Paris, France
*
*Author for correspondence: Camille Michèle Williams, E-mail: williams.m.camille@gmail.com

Abstract

Background

Studies reporting that highly intelligent individuals have more mental health disorders often have sampling bias, no or inadequate control groups, or insufficient sample size. We addressed these caveats by examining the difference in the prevalence of mental health disorders between individuals with high and average general intelligence (g-factor) in the UK Biobank.

Methods

Participants with g-factor scores standardized relative to the same-age UK population, were divided into two groups: a high g-factor group (g-factor 2 SD above the UK mean; N = 16,137) and an average g-factor group (g-factor within 2 SD of the UK mean; N = 236,273). Using self-report questionnaires and medical diagnoses, we examined group differences in the prevalence of 32 phenotypes, including mental health disorders, trauma, allergies, and other traits.

Results

High and average g-factor groups differed across 15/32 phenotypes and did not depend on sex and/or age. Individuals with high g-factors had less general anxiety (odds ratio [OR] = 0.69, 95% CI [0.64;0.74]) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD; OR = 0.67, 95 %CI [0.61;0.74]), were less neurotic (β = −0.12, 95% CI [−0.15;−0.10]), less socially isolated (OR = 0.85, 95% CI [0.80;0.90]), and were less likely to have experienced childhood stressors and abuse, adulthood stressors, or catastrophic trauma (OR = 0.69–0.90). However, they generally had more allergies (e.g., eczema; OR = 1.13–1.33).

Conclusions

The present study provides robust evidence that highly intelligent individuals do not have more mental health disorders than the average population. High intelligence even appears as a protective factor for general anxiety and PTSD.

Information

Type
Research Article
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction, provided the original article is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the European Psychiatric Association
Figure 0

Table 1. Phenotypic prevalence in the UK Biobank across and by sexes.

Figure 1

Figure 1. Group differences in prevalence between high and average and low and average g-factor Groups across phenotypes and scores. OCD, obsessive–compulsive disorder; PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder. Correction for multiple comparisons varies by phenotype. See Supplementary tables standard error (SE) for p-value thresholds for multiple comparison corrections. High g-factor, participants with a g-factor score 2SD above the mean; low g-factor, participants with a g-factor score 2SD under the mean; average g-factor, participants with a g-factor score between ±2 SD from the mean.

Figure 2

Table 2. Phenotypes that differ in prevalence between average and high general intelligence groups.

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