Correlation between Childhood IQ and Adult Mental Disorders - Term Paper Example

Running head: Research Proposal Correlation between childhood IQ and adult mental disorders (school) Correlation between childhood IQ and adult mental disorders Introduction This study is important because it presents an important trend in the analysis of human behavior, especially in the analysis of mental health disorders. It is also important because it seeks to present a more academic correlation between childhood IQ and adult mental health disorders. The results of this study would be important for mental health professionals in predicting patterns of behavior and in planning interventions for children with low IQ and adults with mental health disorders. This study will attempt to address the following questions: (1) Is there a correlation between low childhood IQ and the prevalence of adult mental disorders?; and (2) Are children with lower IQ less able to cope with emotional and behavioral issues? In reviewing previous studies on the current topic, a study by Koenen, et.al., (2009) sought to test the hypothesis that low childhood IQ is related to a higher risk and severity of adult mental disorders. The study covered about 1,037 respondents from Dunedin, New Zealand of the 1972-1973 birth cohort and who were followed up to the time they turned 32. Their IQ was assessed at ages 7, 9, and 11; and their mental health was evaluated at ages 18, 21, 26, and 32 (Koenen, et.al., 2009). In the course of the study, the authors were able to establish that lower childhood IQ was very much associated with increased risk for schizophrenia, adult depression, and adult anxiety. For those with higher childhood IQ, an association with adult mania was seen (Koenen, et.al., 2009). In a similar study by Batty, Mortensen, and Osler (2005), the authors sought to study childhood IQ in relation to later psychiatric disorders. In this study, the childhood scores of 7022 Danish males were evaluated in relation to psychiatric hospital discharge records in adulthood (Batty, Mortensen, & Osler, 2005). Their study established that there was an inverse relationship between low IQ scores and the risk of adult psychiatric disorder. In effect, the study revealed that the lower the IQ of the child was, the higher his risk of later developing a psychiatric illness. In yet another study, this time by Ferguson, Horwood, and Ridder (2005), the authors set out to examine the extent to which IQ in middle childhood was an indication of future outcomes. IQs of children were gathered at 8-9 years of age and the study covered 1265 New Zealand children over the span of 25 years. The study revealed that early childhood intelligence was not related to outcomes of crime, mental health, sexual behaviors, and use of illicit drugs after adjustments were made on early behavior problems and family background (Ferguson, Horwood, & Ridder, 2005). There was a strong relationship between childhood intelligence and education outcomes. Moreover, low IQ during childhood was often mediated by childhood conduct problems and family circumstances which resulted to adult mental issues. For those who had strong family and social relationships despite having low IQ in childhood, they developed well academically until their adult years (Ferguson, Horwood, & Ridder, 2005). Kubicka, et.al., (2002) also had occasion to review this topic in one of their researches where they sought to identify childhood personality predictors of drinking and smoking behavior in adults. Their study spanned 24 years covering 440 males and females from Prague in the Czech Republic. The study revealed that unwanted pregnancy was not a factor in adult drinking and smoking. Adult drinking was however predicted and low conscientiousness often led to a higher volume of alcohol intake per occasion (Kubicka, et.al., 2002). Extroversion also impacted on the subjects’ average daily alcohol intake. Smoking was also predicted by low IQ and low conscientiousness (Kubicka, et.al., 2002). The authors concluded that IQ and childhood personality traits predicted and explained the drinking and smoking habits of adult men and women. Finally, in the study by Hatch, et.al., (2007), the authors sought to evaluate whether childhood cognitive ability was in any way related to two mental health outcomes at 53 years of age. The subjects were assessed for anxiety, depression, and potential alcohol abuse. It covered about 1800 participants from a 1946 British cohort study. The study revealed that children with higher cognitive abilities reported fewer symptoms of anxiety and depression, as well as alcohol abuse (Hatch, et.al., 2007). The authors however noted that higher cognitive ability led to lesser internalizing symptoms which often placed them at risk for potential alcohol abuse. They recommended further studies on the evaluation of psychosocial mechanisms related with both higher childhood IQ and the risk for alcohol abuse. Based on the above studies presented, this study will now focus on low IQ of children and its impact on the mental health of adults. It will focus on particular qualities of low IQ children which leads to the manifestation of adult mental disorders. This study hypothesizes that the lower the child’s IQ, the higher his risk of developing adult mental disorders. IQ refers to the Intelligence Quotient of the child and adult mental health disorders refer to the mental disorders as defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV). Methods This study will cover young adults, ages 20-40. It will include both males and females with various ethnic and racial backgrounds suffering from various adult disorders including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, substance abuse disorders, and similar mental health afflictions. It will also include a control group of young adults without any mental disorders. Participants whose school records do not reflect their childhood IQ scores at 8 and 11 years of age shall not be included in this study. Respondents with a family history of mental disorders shall also not be included as respondents in this study. The information that will be gathered about the respondents shall include their age, gender, race or ethnicity, childhood IQ at 8 and 11 years of age, onset of mental disorder, and type of mental disorder manifested. The information shall be gathered by contacting the adult respondents and requesting their consent to access their childhood school records where the IQ levels of the respondents can be retrieved. The sample population shall be computed by using Slovin’s Formula. The sample shall be chosen through random sampling by placing all the names of the potential respondents of the population in a list and then pointing to an initial number. The table of random numbers shall then be consulted in order to yield suggested numbers in the list of respondents. A name from the list of respondents shall be chosen until the sample number of respondents shall have been reached. The respondents shall be assessed in terms of their mental health by using a prepared diagnostic test from the standards of the DSM-IV. The respondents shall be contacted through a letter informing them of the study and that their assistance as respondents is being requested. Their confidentiality shall be assured and they shall also be informed that their responses shall be used for academic purposes alone. Numbers shall be assigned to each respondent and shall be indicated in the respondents’ answer sheets. During the tabulation of answers, the respondents’ names shall not be seen by statisticians and other assistants who shall be called in by this researcher. The number and the names of the respondents shall be known only to the researcher. Records of such interview and other data gathered on the respondent shall be kept confidential and accessible to this researcher alone. Such records shall be kept in a locked box and shall be destroyed five years from the submission of this research. Results This study would likely reveal that adults who are now suffering from mental disorders suffered from low IQs during their childhood years. It would also reveal that adults in the control group would manifest a low prevalence of mental disorders. This paper would also likely reveal that the most common mental disorders suffered by adults with low childhood IQs include schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, alcoholism, and major depressive disorder. This paper would also likely reveal that adults with mental disorders have experienced more difficulties in coping with their emotional and behavioral issues. The interviews would also reveal that adults with mental disorders have had difficulties or issues in their academic performance, in maintaining their attention span, and that they have had a history of difficulties in relating socially with other people. Such interviews would also reveal emotional and family issues which they believe have impacted on their coping abilities. Finally, this research would also likely reveal that a low IQ impacts on a child’s and eventually an adult’s emotional, behavioral, and mental development. Discussion These results advance the understanding of mental health disorders and low IQ in the sense that it presents a comprehensive and detailed means of evaluating mental disorders. In reviewing the correlation of low IQ and mental health disorders, there is a need to establish details or indicators from childhood until adulthood which would somehow predict the development of adult disorders. The child does not necessarily go from having a low IQ to later developing an adult mental disorder without some signs at various ages of his development which would somehow indicate an impending adult disorder. It is important to establish the relationship of low IQ and adult mental disorders in order to enable the process of predicting of trends and patterns of behavior which can later help mental health professionals in the conceptualization of treatment and interventions for adults with mental disorders and children with low IQ. In assisting children with low IQ, assisting them in the learning process and their academic performance can help improve their mental capacity and later prevent the development of adult mental disorders. Among adults with mental disorders, interventions may also include improvements in their mental capacity and in their abilities to cope with the emotional damage that their low IQ may have caused in their childhood and adolescent years. Studying the correlation between low IQ and adult mental disorder can also help mental health professionals in planning treatment and interventions for adults with mental disorders – treatments may not only be set during adult years by also during childhood and adolescent ages for members of the population who are at risk for developing mental health disorders. This study may be limited in terms of children school records. Such school records may not yield IQs of students during their childhood years. Since this is not a cohort study and will not study respondents from childhood to adulthood, the respondents would not be studied on an actual setting. The results would largely be dependent on observations, school records, and information gathered during the interview. This process of research cannot assuredly deliver results as accurate as a cohort study. This study may also be limited in terms of population. The sample population may not yield a large enough number to support results which can apply to the general population. Recommendations for future studies may be the conduct of a cohort study which will evaluate the development of a child with low IQ from his school age years until his early childhood, adolescent, and young adulthood years. Such a study would evaluate the patterns and trends in the child and the respondents’ behavior which may indicate signs and symptoms of a future adult disorder. A study which would document the most common predictors of adult disorder can also be conducted in order to help establish adequate and effective prevention measures and interventions for adult disorders. Establishing such predictors can also help determine interventions which can be applied at each stage of the development cycle. Conclusion This study will be conducted in order to establish the correlation of low IQ and adult mental disorders. This study will also seek to evaluate the emotional coping abilities of children with low IQ and its relationship to their risk of developing adult mental disorders. It shall cover a population of adult mental health sufferers whose childhood school records shall be assessed for IQ levels. Random sampling shall be applied in order to ensure generalizability. Confidentiality rules shall also be applied by the researchers. A questionnaire which would evaluate the mental health of respondents shall be used for this study in order to establish answers to the questions raised. Expected results shall most likely indicate an inverse relationship between IQ and the development of adult mental disorders. The most likely disorders that respondents would suffer may include major depressive disorder, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and substance abuse problems. Based on such results, this paper would likely conclude that there is a strong relationship between adult mental disorders and low IQ among children. Future cohort studies evaluating human behavior across the span of several years are recommended in order to help establish a more academic and reliable answer to the current issue in this research. This would help ensure that adequate preventive measures, treatments, and interventions would be conceptualized for adult mental disorder and low childhood IQ. Works Cited Batty, G., Mortensen, E., & Osler, M. (2005) Childhood IQ in relation to later psychiatric disorder: Evidence from a Danish birth cohort study. The British Journal of Psychiatry, volume 187, pp. 180-181 Fergusson DM, Horwood LJ, & Ridder EM (2005) Show me the child at seven II: childhood intelligence and later outcomes in adolescence and young adulthood. Journal of Child Psychology, volume 46, pp. 850–858 Hatch SL, Jones PB, Kuh D, Hardy R, Wadsworth ME, & Richards M (2007) Childhood cognitive ability and adult mental health in the British 1946 birth cohort. Soc Sci Med, volume 64: pp. 2285–2296 Koenen, K., Moffitt, T., Roberts, A., Martin, L., Kubzansky, L., Harrington, H., Poulton, R., & Caspi, R. (2009) Childhood IQ and Adult Mental Disorders: A Test of the Cognitive Reserve Hypothesis. American Journal of Psychiatry, volume 166, pp. 50-57 Kubicka L, Matejcek Z, Dytrych Z, & Roth Z (2001) IQ and personality traits assessed in childhood as predictors of drinking and smoking behavior in middle-aged adults: a 24-year follow-up study. Addiction, volume 96: pp. 1615–1628 Read More