Childhood mental ability and adult alcohol intake and alcohol problems: the 1970 British cohort study

OBJECTIVES: We examined the potential relation of mental ability test scores at age 10 years with alcohol problems and alcohol intake at age 30 years. METHODS: We used data from a prospective observational study involving 8170 members of a birth cohort from Great Britain born in 1970. Data included mental ability scores at age 10 years and responses to inquiries about alcohol intake and problems at age 30 years. RESULTS: After adjustment for potential mediating and confounding factors, cohort members with higher childhood mental ability scores had an increased prevalence of problem drinking in adulthood. This association was stronger among women (odds ratio [OR](1 SD increase in ability) = 1.38; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.16, 1.64) than men (OR(1 SD increase in ability) = 1.17; CI = 1.04, 1.28; P for interaction = .004). Childhood mental ability was also related to a higher average intake of alcohol and to drinking more frequently. Again, these gradients were stronger among women than among men. CONCLUSIONS: In this large-scale cohort study, higher childhood mental ability was related to alcohol problems and higher alcohol intake in adult life. These unexpected results warrant examination in other studies

educational status, methods, questionnaires, sex distribution, childhood, health, life, follow-up studies, humans, logistic models, association, social class, child, great britain, intelligence, confounding factors (epidemiology), parents, prevalence, cohort studies, prospective studies, women, adult, age, epidemiology, alcoholism, public health, alcohol drinking, male, birth, analysis of variance, birth cohort, severity of illness index, cohort, female, odds ratio, risk factors, education, psychology, intelligence tests, etiology, alcohol, occupations

10.2105/AJPH.2007.109488

2237-2243

Batty, G. David

605ce199-493d-4238-b9c8-a2c076672e83

Deary, Ian J.

027158ae-fbfb-40ea-98b1-32d2690499ac

Schoon, Ingrid

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Emslie, Carol

a39975d1-d527-4751-bd63-8f964279e722

Hunt, Kate

cb965940-2091-40c4-980b-2f6e2352a047

Gale, Catharine R.

5bb2abb3-7b53-42d6-8aa7-817e193140c8

December 2008

Batty, G. David

605ce199-493d-4238-b9c8-a2c076672e83

Deary, Ian J.

027158ae-fbfb-40ea-98b1-32d2690499ac

Schoon, Ingrid

7d34edc7-0fbc-4ba1-8c0c-30746d693d11

Emslie, Carol

a39975d1-d527-4751-bd63-8f964279e722

Hunt, Kate

cb965940-2091-40c4-980b-2f6e2352a047

Gale, Catharine R.

5bb2abb3-7b53-42d6-8aa7-817e193140c8

Batty, G. David, Deary, Ian J., Schoon, Ingrid, Emslie, Carol, Hunt, Kate and Gale, Catharine R. (2008) Childhood mental ability and adult alcohol intake and alcohol problems: the 1970 British cohort study. American Journal of Public Health, 98 (12), 2237-2243. (doi:10.2105/AJPH.2007.109488).

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Published date: December 2008

Related URLs:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pu...d/18235070

Keywords: educational status, methods, questionnaires, sex distribution, childhood, health, life, follow-up studies, humans, logistic models, association, social class, child, great britain, intelligence, confounding factors (epidemiology), parents, prevalence, cohort studies, prospective studies, women, adult, age, epidemiology, alcoholism, public health, alcohol drinking, male, birth, analysis of variance, birth cohort, severity of illness index, cohort, female, odds ratio, risk factors, education, psychology, intelligence tests, etiology, alcohol, occupations