Smokers Have Lower IQs
[Guest post by DRJ]
Via Hot Air, an Israeli study reports smokers have lower IQs than non-smokers:
“A study of 18 to 21-year-old men revealed that the IQs of smokers averaged 94 – seven points lower than non-smokers on 101.
IQ scores in a healthy population of young men fall between 84 and 116, but those who smoked more than a pack of cigarettes a day averaged just 90 between them.
Researchers in Israel took data from more than 20,000 healthy men before, during and after they spent time in the Israeli military.
About 28 per cent of their sample smoked one or more cigarettes a day, three per cent considered themselves ex-smokers, and 68 per cent said they never smoked.
Professor Mark Weiser, of Tel Aviv University’s Department of Psychiatry, said: “In the health profession, we’ve generally thought that smokers are most likely the kind of people to have grown up in difficult neighbourhoods, or who’ve been given less education at good schools.
“But because our study included subjects with diverse socio-economic backgrounds, we’ve been able to rule out socio-economics as a major factor.”
The study also measured effects in twin brothers – and in the case where one twin smoked, the non-smoking twin registered a higher IQ on average.
Prof Weiser said: “People on the lower end of the average IQ tend to display poorer overall decision-making skills when it comes to their health.
“People with lower IQs are not only prone to addictions such as smoking. These same people are more likely to have obesity, nutrition and narcotics issues.”
Hmmmm.
— DRJ
I knew I was more stupid than I look. All that post-grad work and degrees up in smoke. Phi beta kappa just ain’t what it used to be.
daleyrocks (718861) — 4/3/2010 @ 10:14 pmYou’re probably the exception that proves the rule … or maybe you have brain cells to burn.
DRJ (daa62a) — 4/3/2010 @ 10:17 pmAnd I thought it was the booze, the marijuana and LSD.
Could it possibly be that two generations after mind only stupid people smoke?
nk (db4a41) — 4/3/2010 @ 10:22 pm“after mine”
That was not the cigarette. It was the wine.
nk (db4a41) — 4/3/2010 @ 10:23 pmAt least the study didn’t try to tie in the correlation = causation argument. My own non-scientific anecdotal evidence suggests people with lower IQ are more likely to be teen smokers than those with higher IQ, but that isn’t a guarantee. In high school, it was the 0.5 – 2.0 GPA students who went outside to smoke their lunch. But that didn’t mean only the “dumb” kids smoked. By the end of my senior year in high school, I had been a sporadic smoker for 9 years (yes, I started in 3rd grade). And in that time, I earned 7 varsity letters as a distance runner, a position in the National Honor Society, a small academic scholarship. I also blew the ASVAB out of the water and got a 31 composite on the ACT (when 35 was max and the test wasn’t dumbed down).
So, obviously, correlation does not equal causation. But I have a major issue with this whole “IQ level – addiction predisposition correlation = causation” angle. I believe a predisposition for addiction is hereditary and may very well correlate in part with “racial makeup” (there’s only one race), meaning Indians (feather) may well be more likely to be predisposed to addiction, and suchlike.
Part of the reason I refuse to gamble is due to my own predisposition to addiction. I know if I start, I very well could be destroyed by that addiction. I don’t do illegal drugs for two reasons: 1) they’re illegal and 2) I don’t like the sense of loss of control. The fact I have every reason to become hopelessly addicted doesn’t really come into play.
I had major dental surgery that left me in major pain such that I could not work. So the dentist prescribed the weakest Valium available, 7 pills for 7 days. The first pill, and I was bed-ridden. I didn’t care if I lost my job or anything else. Nothing at all mattered. Except the next day when I could take the next Valium. That’s it. And when the 7 days ended, I wanted more Valium, despite my knowledge of how debilitated it made me. After a week without the Valium, I was glad that episode was over.
Unfortunately, I’ve been smoking a pack a day for the past 26 years. And I cannot break the habit.
My own experience tells me IQ-level is not a valuable indicator for addiction predisposition, thus the study is flawed.
John Hitchcock (4e07c5) — 4/3/2010 @ 11:03 pmHmmmm.
What the hell is that supposed to mean?
Sean M. (b31588) — 4/3/2010 @ 11:04 pmnk – I always thought I was smarter when I drank. People around me tell me that was not so. I think they’re all a bunch of dumb sh*ts.
daleyrocks (718861) — 4/3/2010 @ 11:09 pmNo mention of this guy in the article, figures.
Kevin Gregory (ff803c) — 4/3/2010 @ 11:12 pmSean M,
Nothing. I don’t know what to think about this.
Hey, how did you get your URL link to work?
DRJ (daa62a) — 4/3/2010 @ 11:14 pmURL link test
John Hitchcock (4e07c5) — 4/3/2010 @ 11:26 pma href URL link test
John Hitchcock (4e07c5) — 4/3/2010 @ 11:29 pmagain
John Hitchcock (4e07c5) — 4/3/2010 @ 11:30 pmOkay, can’t figure it out, do delete these tests, DRJ
John Hitchcock (4e07c5) — 4/3/2010 @ 11:31 pmOne last test.
John Hitchcock (4e07c5) — 4/3/2010 @ 11:34 pmKevin – Well played.
daleyrocks (718861) — 4/3/2010 @ 11:35 pmLet’s leave it, John. Maybe it will make it more noticeable and thus more likely to get fixed at some point.
DRJ (daa62a) — 4/3/2010 @ 11:36 pmI tried leaving a URL, too, and I couldn’t make it work either.
DRJ (daa62a) — 4/3/2010 @ 11:37 pmWell, I tried, anyway.
John Hitchcock (4e07c5) — 4/3/2010 @ 11:43 pmSean M,
Nothing. I don’t know what to think about this.
Hey, how did you get your URL link to work?
Sorry, but I’m sick of stuff saying that thing X or idea Y that I happen to do or believe mean that I’m an idiot. And, furthermore, that some government agency needs to stop me from and/or tax me out of doing or thinking such.
Oh, and if you mean the link to my blog in my info, I just supplied my name, email, and website info.
Sean M. (b31588) — 4/3/2010 @ 11:44 pmAha! It seems it works for the first time and never again afterward. That might help in finding the problem.
John Hitchcock (4e07c5) — 4/3/2010 @ 11:46 pmAnd I have a floating IP address as opposed to a static one. This is a test with a name other than all my tests on this site and an email addy other than I use. (sock puppet type thing, maybe)
Hitchcock John (4e07c5) — 4/3/2010 @ 11:50 pmGuess that didn’t work, either.
John Hitchcock (4e07c5) — 4/3/2010 @ 11:52 pmYou have the magic touch, Sean M. You’re the only one who can get a URL link to work.
DRJ (daa62a) — 4/3/2010 @ 11:57 pmHmmm … I wonder if it matters that smokers have such a hard time in the workplace today. Employable people may be less likely to smoke, or some other correlation that masquerades as IQ.
It is my considered opinion that high IQ and bad judgment are more likely correlated than not. IF you want to test that, consider poor-judgment activities that do not impact social standing, such as voting Democrat.
Kevin Murphy (3c3db0) — 4/4/2010 @ 12:20 amKevin, your suggested study and it’s various permutations would still make me an outlier in most cases. 😉
John Hitchcock (4e07c5) — 4/4/2010 @ 12:27 amaccidental apostrophe, oops
Anyway, I’ve been a Christian Conservative since I was 14. As an adult, I had a beard that got caught in my belt buckle, hair that extended past the mid-point of my back, a bald head, an earring in my left ear, an 1100 cc V-Twin motorcycle; I enjoy chick flicks, ballads, disco music, …
I’m very much an outlier in a great many aspects (and calling me a metrosexual is fighting words).
Oh, I’m also very much a lightweight, barely hitting 140 lbs on my heavy days.
John Hitchcock (4e07c5) — 4/4/2010 @ 12:33 amKevin Gregory #8 – you beat me to it – my first thoughts, too, went to Ear Leader …
Alasdair (205079) — 4/4/2010 @ 3:36 amAnd this URL seems to point to another URL that works …
[note: fished from spam filter. –Stashiu]
Alasdair (205079) — 4/4/2010 @ 3:37 amIt doesn’t take much observation to see that in the U.S. most smokers are proles, then a smaller group of pseudo-intellectual hipster types.
Stump (144c39) — 4/4/2010 @ 3:39 amYou have the magic touch, Sean M. You’re the only one who can get a URL link to work.
What can I say? I did what was asked of me, and it worked. Crazy, huh?
Sean M. (b31588) — 4/4/2010 @ 4:03 amThere are more holes, flaws, Type 1 Errors, Type 2 Errors,in this study than you can shake a stick at…
I’d point them out, but I gotta go smoke…
Frank
Frank Drackman (7ee2ca) — 4/4/2010 @ 4:06 amDoes Sean have a Patterico log-in, perchance?
The unlinkable Dana (474dfc) — 4/4/2010 @ 6:10 amSince only Sean has been able to get his url to take, it must prove that he’s the only non-smoker here, ’cause he be a genius!
Oh, wait, I don’t smoke, either.
The Dana who has worked on a tobacco farm (474dfc) — 4/4/2010 @ 6:14 amLife is always more complicated than a study of one variable would like you to believe.
Nicotine is actually somewhat effective as a self-treatment for ADD.
– So, at times cigarette use might be associated with ADD, which when unrecognized may lead to poorer academic and social performance, as well as substance abuse.
Nicotine also constricts blood vessels, causing decreased blood flow to the brain.
– which theoretically over time would decrease brain function.
I imagine there are multiple factors involved in the relation between IQ and smoking, some merely associations, some perhaps causal. These factors are probably of variable importance for each individual.
My 2 cents, anyway.
disco music–
MD in Philly (59a3ad) — 4/4/2010 @ 6:20 amegads! as one whose idea of “dressing up” in college meant wearing corduroy’s with my flannel shirt instead of blue jeans,… My wife had some friends who taught their dog to lie down, put it’s paws over it’s head, and whine when somebody told it to “disco”; the beard, long hair, bike, and ear ring I can handle, but really, John, … 😉 (no serious offense meant, apologies if serious offense taken)
Nah, MD, peeps who don’t know good music when they hear it pick on me for my disco, Air Supply, ABBA, Eddie Grant, Neil Diamond, Kenny G music. But that’s okay; it only proves they’re not as smart as am I.
John Hitchcock (d255dc) — 4/4/2010 @ 6:46 amGeeze, I don’t know. I do remember, when in grad school, learning to administer three different IQ tests (we had to administer 25 each of the WISC, WAIS and Stanford Benet)and many of the folk volunteering to be my guinea pigs had fairly high IQs (ranging from 115 to about 130 or so). My own was higher (I was someone else’s guinea pig) and I was a smoker. But I began smoking in at around age 15 because all the cool kids smoked and it made us feel grown up and hip.
I used to joke that anyone could quit but only a he-man could face and deal with cancer. Then I got lung cancer and was a scared little boy again. So far (4 1/4 years later) I’m still here, beating the odds and telling kids I counsel that it is really dumb to smoke, even if you are smart.
I suspect, after forty plus years in the mental health field that it has more to do with a proclivity for addiction than it has to do with intelligence, but then what do I know?
P.S. I’ve linked the words WISC, WAIS and Stanford Benet. I wonder if the links come through. I also linked my website, all using the a href=”URL” URL language.
GM Roper (6afe02) — 4/4/2010 @ 7:48 amNope, didn’t work on my website URL, worked on the others though.
GM Roper
GM Roper (6afe02) — 4/4/2010 @ 7:50 amI find it more than a little ironic that the issue of our President being a habitual smoker is rarely discussed, while his wife’s war on obesity gets rave reviews ad nauseum. I happen to agree with her campaign, but…come on.
Dmac (21311c) — 4/4/2010 @ 8:33 amhow dumb is this study? Newsflash, 18-24 year old men are not very bright, smoker or non smoker. an actual study that might produce even dubious that are more believeable results are to study all age groups of smokers and non smokers. But even then it has nothing to do with IQ.
All those smokers that have quit over the years, your intellegence went up 30 points when you stopped smoking!
another useless study (60044b) — 4/4/2010 @ 8:50 amWhat a nutty article. It’s not brain IQ at all. Decision making skills? Whether one smokes, and how much, has always had to do with social IQ (prevailing social norms) and addiction (not always but often hereditary). Go back just 50-60 years ago and almost EVERYONE smoked then. Presidents, generals, business leaders, news anchors, scientists, athletes, etc. That’s what people did–in meetings, at sporting events, after dinner with coffee, after sex, etc.
These days, not nearly as many people smoke. Except, of course, our smartest man in the world current occupant of the White House, (and you, John H. 🙂 )
elissa (34967f) — 4/4/2010 @ 9:03 amNo “hmmmmmmm!”
This study was designed to further the course of socialistic “nanny state” laws by labeling those who won’t change an undesired behavior (like drinking Coke instead of Aquafina) as idiots who need to be saved from themselves.
East Coast Chris (ded5f2) — 4/4/2010 @ 9:11 amThere’s a self-selection thing that is definitely not accounted for (ADHD+nicotine) but the blood flow change is measurable and has negative consequences. Glad that I managed to quit, even though I miss the stimulant action of nicotine that helped the (at then misdiagnosed as not present) ADHD. I’ve thought about trying nicotine patches … but so far the docs say no.
htom (412a17) — 4/4/2010 @ 10:00 am…pick on me for my disco, Air Supply, ABBA, Eddie Grant, Neil Diamond, Kenny G music
There is a bit of difference between disco and Neil Diamond, as well as a few others you mention-
Never heard of Eddie Grant, ABBA was enjoyable pop, I think I heard one Kenny G thing once that I knew was Kenny G which was pleasant,
Air Supply was big in the 80’s I think- that was med school and residency, the lost decade…
Being a biker you must have a little Steppenwolf “Born to Be Wild” somewhere, and I can’t reconcile that with disco. (When my son had a bike, a 450 something or other, I coined the term “Born to be Mild”- he was past his punk rock/ anti-neonazi-skinhead skinhead days)
htom- I don’t know what else you use, caffeine is a relatively good OTC ADD management. We thought about nicotine patches when my one son with ADD was doing competitive fencing and was at a disadvantage without his usual meds. We did use caffeine, which has to be at very high levels to disqualify a person IOC guidelines.
MD in Philly (59a3ad) — 4/4/2010 @ 10:34 amOf course, some smoking of tobacco may sharpen senses, response times and the like, while smoking beyond a certain amount of cigarettes clouds the mind or over-sensitizes it or otherwise handicaps it.
And, what does second hand smoke do for IQ?
Ira (28a423) — 4/4/2010 @ 10:34 am#35 GM Roper:
I suspect you are right.
I am unaware of any study that correlates intelligence (or lack of) with addiction in any meaningful way. What I do know is that smoking (nicotine addiction) is the most likely of all addictions, with about 40% of the general population being susceptible. Is that 40% confined to the half of the population that makes up the lower half of the population in IQ? Somehow, that seems a doubtful premise to me.
What I do know is that addiction occurs most often in individuals with a family history of addiction, and someone with an addiction very often displays cross addiction to nicotine, although not always. And even in the nicotine addicted population, the severity of the addiction varies among individuals.
And finally, I do know that addiction sucks.
EW1(SG) (edc268) — 4/4/2010 @ 10:37 am#43 Ira:
Not a thing.
As MD in Philly noted above, there are several things happening at once when a cigarette is smoked. First is the action of the nicotine, a mild stimulant. Second is vasoconstriction, not only in the brain, but throughout the body. There is also the displacement of oxygen from hemoglobin in the bloodstream by carbon monoxide produced in the incomplete combustion of the cigarette. There are other long term effects that occur when long term contaminants like tar are introduced into the body as well.
Which of the effects is predominant is going to depend on the individual’s use. How often they smoke, how much, and so on.
EW1(SG) (edc268) — 4/4/2010 @ 10:46 amThe study also measured effects in twin brothers – and in the case where one twin smoked, the non-smoking twin registered a higher IQ on average.
Thats seems to imply that the smoking made the lower IQ sibling lower in IQ, rather than it being a pre-existing condition.
Subotai (6be5f6) — 4/4/2010 @ 10:47 amWell, I tried, anyway.
Comment by John Hitchcock — 4/3/2010
See? If you didn’t smoke you’ve have been able to figure out how to post a link!
I keed.
Subotai (6be5f6) — 4/4/2010 @ 10:51 amAny one who says that I’ve got a low
IQ is racist.
And no, I will not release my college or law school grades or transcripts.
Barak Obama (e383ed) — 4/4/2010 @ 10:59 amI think all these genius postdocs around here need to repeat that course in statistics. Median, mean, average, etc ?
My ex-wife used to say it scared her that half the population had IQs below 100.
I assume that study was also limited to cigarettes as cigars are well know to increase already high IQs.
Mike K (2cf494) — 4/4/2010 @ 11:15 amHere, here, Mike K.
SPQR (26be8b) — 4/4/2010 @ 11:17 am#49 Mike K:
ROFLMAO!
EW1(SG) (edc268) — 4/4/2010 @ 11:51 amThese days, whenever I read about a “study” I immediately think of this:
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/feature/id/57091/title/Odds_Are,_Its_Wrong
“Studies” like this one are not worth believing until they’ve been replicated.
If you have an hour or so to spend smartening up further, check out this podcast:
http://www.americanscientist.org/science/pub/everything-is-dangerous-a-controversy
Person of Choler (05d6dd) — 4/4/2010 @ 1:11 pmI assume that study was also limited to cigarettes as cigars are well known to increase already high IQs.
Indeed, Perdomo cigars especially.
Mike LaRoche (0e6523) — 4/4/2010 @ 2:16 pmPerson of Choler-
I enjoyed the references. A friend who is a physician who does research at a major university would say, “If you need statistical analysis to verify the results, I don’t believe it”. IOW, he thought results should be obvious, not the calculation of P values. I think he didn’t really mean it catgorically, but it revealed a general approach.
I agree there is misunderstanding in the sciences, but even moreso in the lay press. Clinical doctors will look very skeptically at some “new discovery” that was found in a meta-analysis of other studies. Likewise, a good primary care physician understands this when it comes to doing blood tests, etc. A battery of 25 “routine” blood tests is more likely than not to have at leasst one finding outside of “normal” just because of the statistical distribution of “normal” values.
In another scenario, people from Hopkins (who should have known better, maybe they did) published two articles in The Lancet that reported on the number of civilians killed “because of the US invasion”. Close examination of their procedure and calculations, which were generalizations of some sample statistics, revealed a multitude of findings that were simply not believable.
Better centers do have experts in statistical analysis who keep the scientists in line.
MD in Philly (59a3ad) — 4/4/2010 @ 2:39 pmMD in Philly — Strattera makes a difference in my life. I’ve cut my coffee consumption from a couple of quarts to a couple of cups a day since beginning it. I’m working with some MDs I trust to consider trials of some of the other stimulants, either with or instead of, the Strattera; the hold up is because of my brain injury history which gave me epilepsy for years. Since I’m an ex-smoker, I’m hesitant about the nicotine, because I was addicted to that before I became a smoker (worked in a radio station in the 1960s where I was the only non-smoker in a staff of seventy smokers.) There are days when I hate having to consciously attempt to manage my brain, but then there are days when it’s a joy. Life.
htom (412a17) — 4/4/2010 @ 3:29 pmMaybe most people’s IQ would rise above the median if we banned cigarettes.
Kevin Murphy (3c3db0) — 4/4/2010 @ 4:47 pmhtom,
Glad to hear you’ve found something that helps- I think my son was ending his fencing career when Strattera was coming out, never looked into whether it was banned by the IOC. Yes, the brain injury history is an issue for some stimulants and bupropion
Yes, there are better things than nicotine if one knows they are treating ADD, but it is something to remember on any study that looks at smoking and intellectual performance (except for cigars, of course, as has been noted)
MD in Philly (59a3ad) — 4/4/2010 @ 8:05 pmI know it’s ancedotal, but Albert Einstein smoked a pipe (with tobacco in it I assume)
tmac (5559f7) — 4/5/2010 @ 3:01 pmThe amount of tobacco was probably “relative”. 😉
Stashiu3 (44da70) — 4/5/2010 @ 3:04 pm“Maybe most people’s IQ would rise above the median if we banned cigarettes.”
Comment by Kevin Murphy — 4/4/2010 @ 4:47 pm
Yes, they would offset the drag on the curve by the Progressives.
AD - RtR/OS! (0d3e7e) — 4/5/2010 @ 3:12 pmThen I got lung cancer and was a scared little boy again. So far (4 1/4 years later) I’m still here, beating the odds and telling kids I counsel that it is really dumb to smoke, even if you are smart.
Wow.
You’ve done a very good job beating the odds for 4.25 years. I’m sorry to hear you have to be in the fight, but I’m happy to hear the fight is going so well.
aphrael (e0cdc9) — 4/5/2010 @ 3:13 pmIt’s interesting that the treatment for HAADD is uppers of one sort or another. During the Vietnam War it was found that the zanies, Green Berets and Marine Recon, who would go out into the bush and stay awake for days on Benzedrine/Dexedrine had increased alertness but narrowed focus — tunnel vision.
I wonder … if you only have one job to do maybe you want to treat HAADD. But if you want to be creative and live an all-around life maybe you don’t.
nk (db4a41) — 4/5/2010 @ 4:27 pmMaybe most people’s IQ would rise above the median if we banned cigarettes.
Comment by Kevin Murphy
I recommend #50 again.
If most anything rises above the median, Guam capsizes.
Mike K (2cf494) — 4/5/2010 @ 4:41 pm