Smoking isn’t healthy. It has been discussed in the news over and over again. The negative health consequences have been pointed out over and over again. And then there are the high costs.
Smart people realize that and act by it. In science it is old news that people with a higher IQ are less likely to smoke but let’s have a look at a few individual studies.
A 2010 study [1] examining IQ-scores of smokers and nonsmokers randomly selected from young adults upon joining the army in Israel by Dr. Mark Weiser et. al. clearly shows this. And a news article [2] that is based on the study nicely summarizes how smoking more is even less smart:
“The IQs of young men who smoked more than a pack a day were lower still, at about 90.”
Now this correlation between low IQs and smoking do not inherently say something about cause and effect. So the question remains: Dose being smart prevent you from smoking or does smoking make you less smart? The answer is: Both!
So lets focus on the less obvious connection of smoking causing a reduction in mental skills. To analyze this causal connection a more complex study design is required. For this purpose Janie Corley et. al. [3] looked at a group of 1080 men and women born 1936 in Scotland. Data for their childhood IQ-levels, their smoking history and their IQ and cognitive abilities at age 70 where available. One of the results the study reads:
“After controlling for childhood IQ and SES, current smoking at age 70 (but not pack years of smoking) was associated with impairments in general cognitive ability and processing speed.”
To paraphrase this in less scientific terms: Even if you make sure that you compare people from the same socioeconomic background that had the same IQ as childs you still end up with the smokers having lower cognitive abilities when they reach an age of 70.
Return to campaign home.
Sources:
- Cognitive test scores in male adolescent cigarette smokers compared to non-smokers: a population-based study, Mark Weiser, Salman Zarka, Nomi Werbeloff, Efrat Kravitz and Gad Lubin, Addiction, vol. 105, iss. 2, pp. 358–363, February 2010. link
- Smoking is dumb: Young men who smoke have lower IQs, study finds, ScienceDaily, 2 April 2010. link
- Smoking, childhood IQ, and cognitive function in old age, Janie Corley, Alan J. Gow, John M. Starr and Ian J. Deary, Journal of Psychosomatic Research, vol. 73, iss 2, pp 132–138, August 2012. link
and I don't smoke 