Abstract
Childhood intelligence has been shown to predict mortality risk in adulthood. This relation has never been investigated in a Central European country with universal health care. The present study investigated whether childhood intelligence predicts mortality risk across 40 years in Luxembourg. 2543 participants completed an intelligence test at age 12 in 1968, and the mortality rate in this sample until 2008 was recorded. Our results showed that higher childhood intelligence predicted a lower risk for mortality, even when childhood socioeconomic status was controlled for. This effect was strongest in men belonging to the group of the lowest 20% in intelligence. These results indicate that even universal access to health care cannot fully offset the cumulative effects of intelligence on mortality.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 6-10 |
| Number of pages | 5 |
| Journal | Journal of Research in Personality |
| Volume | 58 |
| Early online date | 20 Jun 2015 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Oct 2015 |
Bibliographical note
AcknowledgementsThis study was supported by a grant from the Luxembourg Fonds National de la Recherche (VIVRE FNR/06/09/18) and a PhD scholarship awarded to the first author by the Fonds National de la Recherche.
Keywords
- childhood intelligence
- premature mortality
- socioeconomic status
- universal health care
Access to Document
- Wrulich Stadler et al. Intelligence and premature mortality Revised Manuscript
© 2016. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/