Do you think people who drink more alcohol would be more or less intelligent — generally speaking?  Recent research cited in a Discovery News article caught my eye with the title “Why Intelligent People Drink More Alcohol.” Any correlation of brain chemistry or intelligence and alcohol has been a concern ever since I was told: “Alcohol kills brain cells.”  Data from the National Child Development Study in the United Kingdom and the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health in the United States found that more intelligent individuals (IQ measured in childhood) ended up drinking alcohol more frequently and in greater quantities than “duller” children.  From the study:

“Very dull” Add Health respondents (with childhood IQ < 75) engage in binge drinking less than once a year. In sharp contrast, “very bright” Add Health respondents (with childhood IQ > 125) engage in binge drinking roughly once every other month.

The association between childhood intelligence and adult frequency of getting drunk is equally clear and monotonic. . . . “Very dull” Add Health respondents almost never get drunk, whereas “very bright” Add Health respondents get drunk once every other month or so.

Both studies followed children and found that the more intelligent individuals drank more as adults.  Theories abound as to what these findings mean.  Is it..Evolution? Economics? Social forces? An intersection of one or a few factors?

What conclusions can you draw?

(Story materials [study citation] found in Psychology Today. Image via Flickr: Wayan Vota / Creative Commons.)