Cited by 580Health disparities and outcomesPublic Health and Social InequalitiesCognitive Abilities and Testing

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Intelligence: is it the epidemiologists’ elusive “fundamental cause” of social class inequalities in health?

Gottfredson, Linda S.·2004·Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

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Abstract

Virtually all indicators of physical health and mental competence favor persons of higher socioeconomic status (SES). Conventional theories in the social sciences assume that the material disadvantages of lower SES are primarily responsible for these inequalities, either directly or by inducing psychosocial harm. These theories cannot explain, however, why the relation between SES and health outcomes (knowledge, behavior, morbidity, and mortality) is not only remarkably general across time, place, disease, and kind of health system but also so finely graded up the entire SES continuum. Epidemiologists have therefore posited, but not yet identified, a more general "fundamental cause" of health inequalities. This article concatenates various bodies of evidence to demonstrate that differences in general intelligence (g) may be that fundamental cause.

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Intelligence and past use of recreational drugs
Wilmoth, D. R. (2011) · Intelligence · doi:10.1016/j.intell.2011.10.005 · Cited by 19
“This relationship may be partly driven by differences in the use of recreational drugs (Batty, Deary, & Macintyre, 2006; Gottfredson, 2004).”
Personality and Other Lifelong Influences on Older–Age Health and Wellbeing: Preliminary Findings in Two Scottish Samples
Harris, M. A., Brett, C. E., Starr, J. M., Deary, I. J., & Johnson, W. (2016) · European Journal of Personality · doi:10.1002/per.2068 · Cited by 17
Learning
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Direct and Indirect Pathways Connecting Cognitive Ability With Cardiovascular Disease Risk: Socioeconomic Status and Multiple Health Behaviors
Hagger‐Johnson, G., Shickle, D., Deary, I. J., & Roberts, B. A. (2010) · Psychosomatic Medicine · doi:10.1097/psy.0b013e3181ebf064 · Cited by 17
“cognitive skills as standard intelligence tests (15).”
BackgroundInfluential
Mediterranean diet, physical activity, and family characteristics associated with cognitive performance in Italian primary school children: analysis of the I-MOVE project
Masini, A., Sanmarchi, F., Kawalec, A., Esposito, F., Scrimaglia, S., Tessari, A., Scheier, L. M., Sacchetti, R., & Dallolio, L. (2022) · European Journal of Pediatrics · doi:10.1007/s00431-022-04756-6 · Cited by 21
“Given its vital role, WM has also been linked to a wide variety of important life outcomes including academic success [11–16], income [17] health, and well-being [18, 19].”
Background
Similar prefrontal cortical activities between general fluid intelligence and visuospatial working memory tasks in preschool children as revealed by optical topography
Kuwajima, M., & Sawaguchi, T. (2010) · Experimental Brain Research · doi:10.1007/s00221-010-2415-z · Cited by 21
“It is a major intellectual component of individual differences among both adults and children (Cattell 1973; Engle et al. 1999), and it is closely related to social risk success ( Gottfredson 1998, 2004 ) and scholastic achievement (e.g., Luo et al. 2003; Frey and Detterman 2004).”
Background
The Racism of Intelligence: How Mental Testing Practices Have Constituted an Institutionalized Form of Group Domination
Croizet, J. (2012) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195188059.013.0034 · Cited by 17
Young adult cognitive ability and subsequent major depression in a cohort of 666,804 Danish men
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“CA is a stable mental characteristic, which is likely to be an important determinant of exposure to stressors and the ability to cope with stress (Gottfredson, 2004b; Neisser et al., 1996).”
Background
A systematic review of the state of literature relating parental general cognitive ability and number of offspring
Reeve, C. L. L., Heeney, M. D., & Menie, M. A. W. O. (2018) · Personality and Individual Differences · doi:10.1016/j.paid.2018.05.036 · Cited by 17
“…studies of the relationships between g and myriad indicators of psychological wellbeing (Lubinski & Benbow, 2000), physical health (Gordon, 1997; Gottfredson, 2004), religiosity (Razmyar & Reeve, 2013; Reeve, 2009), job performance (Gottfredson, 1997; Meisenberg, 2010), criminality and poverty…”
Background
Education and Health: The Role of Cognitive AbilityPreprint
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Socioeconomic Status, Inflammation, and Immune Function
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Young adulthood cognitive ability predicts statin adherence in middle-aged men after first myocardial infarction: A Swedish National Registry study
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Is conscientiousness positively or negatively related to intelligence? Insights from the national level
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“Additionally, Gottfredson (2004) emphasizes, that more able individuals deal more efficiently with new, complex, unexpected and unstructured problems, and learn new professions faster (Gottfredson, 2004).”
Background
Association Between Low IQ Scores and Early Mortality in Men and Women: Evidence From a Population-Based Cohort Study
Maenner, M. J., Greenberg, J. S., & Seltzer, M. M. (2015) · American Journal on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities · doi:10.1352/1944-7558-120.3.244 · Cited by 16
“…test scores are less likely to practice healthy behaviors (such as having a healthy diet, not smoking, avoiding injury, and accessing health care) compared to people with higher IQ test scores, and IQ may be differentially related to different causes of mortality (Deary, 2008; Gottfredson, 2004).”
Background
Stop of loss of cognitive performance during rehabilitation after total hip arthroplasty-Prospective
Brem, M. H., Lehrl, S., Rein, A. K., Massute, S., Schulz-Drost, S., Gelse, K., Schlechtweg, P. M., Hennig, F. F., Olk, A., Jacob, H. J., et al. (2010) · The Journal of Rehabilitation Research and Development · doi:10.1682/jrrd.2010.01.0011 · Cited by 16
“As shown in a number of studies, the mental parameters investigated correspond with success at school, work (including a correspondingly high income), and everyday life [10–13].”
Background
Die Matrizenkonstruktionsaufgabe
Becker, N., Preckel, F., Karbach, J., Raffel, N., & Spinath, F. M. (2014) · Diagnostica · doi:10.1026/0012-1924/a000111 · Cited by 18
Psychosocial epidemiology, social structure, and ideology.
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IQ and the health of states
Satoshi Kanazawa, A. (2008) · Biodemography and Social Biology · doi:10.1080/19485565.2008.9989142 · Cited by 15
g Theory
Gottfredson, L. S. (2018) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781316817049.010 · Cited by 15
Self-citation
After 50 years and 200 papers, what can the Midspan cohort studies tell us about our mortality?
Gruer, L. D., Hart, C., & Watt, G. C. M. (2015) · Public Health · doi:10.1016/j.puhe.2015.06.017 · Cited by 15
Gender Differences in Material, Psychological, and Social Domains of the Income Gradient in Mortality: Implications for Policy
Muennig, P. A., Kuebler, M., Jaeseung, K., Todorović, D., & Rosen, Z. (2013) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0059191 · Cited by 14
Relationships between higher‐level functional capacity and dental health behaviors in community‐dwelling older adults
Moriya, S., Tei, K., Yamazaki, Y., Hata, H., Kitagawa, Y., Inoue, N., & Miura, H. (2012) · Gerodontology · doi:10.1111/j.1741-2358.2012.00654.x · Cited by 15
Association of physical activity and health status with intelligence quotient of high school students in Jeddah
Elkholy, T., & Elsayed, E. E. (2015) · Journal of Physical Therapy Science · doi:10.1589/jpts.27.2039 · Cited by 14
Evidence of dysgenic fertility in China
Wang, M., Fuerst, J. G. R., & Ren, J. (2016) · Intelligence · doi:10.1016/j.intell.2016.04.001 · Cited by 14
“…occupational performance (Schmidt & Hunter, 2004), social mobility (Forrest, Hodgson, Parker, & Pearce, 2011; Krzyżanowska & Mascie-Taylor, 2013; Nettle, 2003; Sorjonen, Hemmingsson, Lundin, Falkstedt, & Melin, 2012; Waller, 1982), health (Gottfredson, 2004), and longevity (Calvin et al., 2011).”
Intelligence and all-cause mortality in the 6-Day Sample of the Scottish Mental Survey 1947 and their siblings: testing the contribution of family background
Iveson, M. H., Čukić, I., Der, G., Batty, G. D., & Deary, I. J. (2017) · International Journal of Epidemiology · doi:10.1093/ije/dyx168 · Cited by 14
Policy‐relevant behaviours predict heavier drinking and mediate the relationship with age, gender and education status: Analysis from the International Alcohol Control Study
Casswell, S., Huckle, T., Wall, M., Parker, K., Chaiyasong, S., Parry, C. D. H., Cường, P. V., Gray‐Phillip, G., & Piazza, M. (2018) · Drug and Alcohol Review · doi:10.1111/dar.12669 · Cited by 18
“Many of the chronic diseases shown to have a socio-economic gradient, such as cancer and cardiovascular disease, along with injuries [13,14] are partially attributable to alcohol [10].”
Background
Gender Differences in Pay of Young Management Professionals in the United States: A Comprehensive View
Keaveny, T. J., Inderrieden, E. J., & Toumanoff, P. G. (2007) · Journal of Labor Research · doi:10.1007/bf03380049 · Cited by 14
“In fact, “g” is an extremely important predictor of performance in jobs which are more cognitively complex (Gottfredson, 2004).”
Evolved Individual Differences in Human Motivation
Bernard, L. C. (2012) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195399820.013.0022 · Cited by 14
RE: “CHILDHOOD COGNITIVE PERFORMANCE AND RISK OF MORTALITY: A PROSPECTIVE COHORT STUDY OF GIFTED INDIVIDUALS”
Voracek, M. (2006) · American Journal of Epidemiology · doi:10.1093/aje/kwj191 · Cited by 14
Patterns and associates of cognitive function, psychosocial wellbeing and health in the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936
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Education, cognitive ability, and cause-specific mortality: A structural approach
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“Lower cognitive ability as measured by standardized IQ tests is related to adult health (Gottfredson 2004; Deary 2008; Conti and Heckman 2010) and increased”
Die verflixten Distraktoren
Mittring, G., & Rost, D. H. (2008) · Diagnostica · doi:10.1026/0012-1924.54.4.193 · Cited by 14
Policy‐Relevant Behaviors Predict Heavier Drinking in Both On and Off Premises and Mediate the Relationship Between Heavier Alcohol Consumption and Age, Gender, and Socioeconomic Status—Analysis from the International Alcohol Control Study
Casswell, S., Huckle, T., Wall, M., & Parker, K. (2016) · Alcoholism Clinical and Experimental Research · doi:10.1111/acer.12947 · Cited by 13

Authors: Gottfredson, L. S.
Affiliations: University of Delaware (US)
Corresponding author: Gottfredson, Linda S.
ORCID: Gottfredson, Linda S.
Venue: Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
Publisher: American Psychological Association (APA)
Published: 2004
Volume: 86
Issue: 1
Pages: 174-199
ISSN: 0022-3514 (ISSN-L)
1939-1315
DOI: 10.1037/0022-3514.86.1.174
OpenAlex: W2141185279
Cited by: 580
References: 189
Citations by year: 2026: 3 · 2025: 17 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 16 · 2022: 20 · 2021: 34 · 2020: 21 · 2019: 31 · 2018: 39 · 2017: 32 · 2016: 27 · 2015: 30 · 2014: 34 · 2013: 32 · 2012: 21
FWCI: 28.15
Type: journal article
Language: en
Open access: closed
Locations: Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (publishedVersion)
PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics: Social Sciences › Health › Health disparities and outcomes
Social Sciences › Health › Public Health and Social Inequalities
Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Abilities and Testing
Keywords: intelligence, socioeconomic status, health disparities, fundamental causes, psychosocial factors, material disadvantage
MeSH terms: Age Factors, Health Status, Humans, Intelligence, Social Class

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Intelligence: is it the epidemiologists’ elusive “fundamental cause” of social class inequalities in health?

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