page_title: Cognitive epidemiology
section_title: Substance abuse
hierarchical_section_title: Cognitive epidemiology / Substance abuse
caption_attribution_description: English: Note: Illustrative graph only - not based on actual data points, but accurate to trends previously established between alcohol consumption and national IQ
context_page_description: Cognitive epidemiology is a field of research that examines the associations between intelligence test scores and health, more specifically morbidity and mortality. Typically, test scores are obtained at an early age, and compared to later morbidity and mortality. In addition to exploring and establishing these associations, cognitive epidemiology seeks to understand causal relationships between intelligence and health outcomes. Researchers in the field argue that intelligence measured at an early age is an important predictor of later health and mortality differences.
context_section_description: Substance abuse is a patterned use of drug consumption in which a person uses substances in amounts or with methods that are harmful to themselves or to others. Substance abuse is commonly associated with a range of maladaptive behaviors that are both detrimental to the individual and to society. Given the terrible consequences that can transpire from abusing substances, recreational experimentation and/or recurrent use of drugs are traditionally thought to be most prevalent among marginalized strands of society. Nevertheless, the very opposite is true; research both in national and individual levels have found that the relationship between IQ and substance abuse indicates positive correlations between superior intelligence, higher alcohol consumption and drug consumption.
  A significant positive association between worldwide national alcohol consumption per capita and country level IQ scores has been found.
  The relationship between childhood IQ scores and illegal drugs use by adolescence and middle age has been found. High IQ scores at age 10 are positively associated with intake of cannabis, cocaine (only after 30 years of age), ecstasy, amphetamine and polydrug and also highlight a stronger association between high IQ and drug use for women than men.  Additionally, these findings are independent of socio-economic status or psychological distress during formative years. A high IQ at age 11 was predictive of increased alcohol dependency later in life and a one standard deviation increase in IQ scores (15-points) was associated with a higher risk of illegal drug use.
  The counterintuitive nature of the correlation between high IQ and substance abuse has sparked a fervent debate in the scientific community with some researchers attributing these findings to IQ being an inadequate proxy of intelligence, while others fault employed research methodologies and unrepresentative data. However, with the increased number of studies publishing similar results, overwhelming consensus is that the association between high IQ and substance abuse is real, statistically significant and independent of other variables.
  There are several competing theories trying to make sense of this apparent paradox. Doctor James White postulates that people with higher IQs are more critical of information and thus less likely to accept facts at face value. While marketing campaigns against drugs may deter individuals with lower IQs from using drugs with disjoint arguments or over-exaggeration of negative consequences, people with a higher IQ will seek to verify the validity of such claims in their immediate environment. White also eludes to an often-overlooked problem of people with higher IQ, the lack of adequate challenges and intellectual stimulation. White posits that high IQ individuals that are not sufficiently engaged in their lives may choose to forgo good judgment for the sake of stimulation.
  The most prominent theory attempting to explain the positive relationship between IQ and substance abuse; however, is the Savanna–IQ interaction hypothesis by social psychologist Satoshi Kanazawa. The theory is founded on the assumption that intelligence is a domain-specific adaptation that has evolved as humans moved away from the birthplace of human race, the savanna. Therefore, theory follows that as humans explored beyond the savannas, intelligence rather than instinct dictated survival. Natural selection privileged those who possessed high IQ while simultaneously favoring those with an appetite for evolutionary novel behaviors and experiences. For Kanazawa, this drive to seek evolutionary novel activities and sensations translates to being more open and callous about experimenting with and/or abusing substances in modern culture. For all the attention that the Savanna–IQ interaction hypothesis has garnered with the general public, this theory however, receives equal amounts of praise and criticism in the academic community with key pain points being the fact that humans have continued to evolve after moving away from the savannas and Kanazawa's misattri
caption: Note: Illustrative graph only – not based on actual data points, but accurate to trends previously established between alcohol consumption and national IQ. For actual data points please refer to Belasen and Hafer 2013 publication.[51]
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