A study shows that kids who have a high IQ are more likely to use illicit drugs when they become teenagers and adults than are their peers (who have a lower IQ). Parents of gifted kids need to be aware of the reasons that influence smart kids to use drugs. You might want to have that talk about the dangers of drugs before your child becomes a teenager.
A study was done by researchers from Cardiff University and University College London. They found that kids who score high on IQ tests are more likely to grow up to become a heavy drinker (or alcoholic), than were their peers who scored lower on the IQ tests.
A new study was done by James White and G. David Batty. They examined the data from the 1970 British Cohort Study. That study tracked thousands of people who were all born within the same week in 1970. Many of the kids in that study took IQ tests when they were five years old, or when they were ten years of age. When the kids were 16 years old, they were asked about their drug use. They were asked about their drug use again when they turned 30 years old.
White and Batty divided that data based on the IQ score of the child. They ended up with three groups: low, medium, and high. Then, they took another look at the data.
The researchers found that the kids who were in the top IQ group when they were five years old were more likely to have used marijuana by the time they turned 16 than the kids who were in the low IQ group were.
Why would teens, and young adults, who were smarter than their peers decide to use illicit drugs? If you look at what life, and school, is like for many gifted kids, than the answer is obvious.
Kids who are gifted are typically bored in school. They want to go through the material at a much faster rate than their peers are ready to do. Frequently, this means that gifted kids are being “held back” to match the pace of the rest of the class.
Gifted kids have a tendency to want to do a form of independent study. They want to learn more about a particular topic or subject, that isn’t being taught in that depth (or taught at all) in their classroom. Most public schools are not prepared to allow kids to do that type of learning.
Gifted kids frequently question authority, especially when the teacher or parent is insisting on doing something that the child can see is illogical or inefficient. It can be extremely frustrating to have your entire academic experience go this way.
Meanwhile, the peers of the gifted kids don’t usually understand their interest in learning, or their reasoning for asking so many questions. The gifted kids get picked on, or completely isolated from forming friendships.
It is easy to see how this can lead a smart kid to try illicit drugs. They are either searching for a new experience, or, they are numbing themselves against boredom and isolation. Parents of gifted kids need to realize that their child is not “too smart” to decide to do drugs. You may want to educate your child about the dangers of drugs earlier than you might have expected to.
Image by Torben Hansen on Flickr