High IQ Children Grow Up to Be... High

Smartypants kids are much more likely to use all sorts of illegal drugs as teenagers and adults, according to a new study of 8,000 Brits born in 1970. Five-year-olds who scored high IQ scores were more likely to have tried marijuana by age 16, reports the LA Times, and by age 30 high-IQ men were 46% more likely to have used amphetamines in the past year and 65% more likely to have used ecstasy. High-IQ women at age 30 were twice as likely to have used cocaine or marijuana in the previous year.

“High-IQ individuals have also been shown to score highly on tests of stimulation seeking and openness to experience,” wrote the researchers, who hypothesize that “illegal drugs are better at fulfilling a desire for novelty and stimulation." They also suggested that the increased drug use could be tied to the tendency for high-IQ young people to be bored or teased. (More intelligence stories.)