Impact of Health On Intelligence - Stress

Stress

Further information: Psychological trauma, Historical trauma, and Neuroplasticity

A recent theory suggests that early childhood stress may affect the developing brain and cause negative effects. Exposure to violence in childhood has been associated with lower school grades and lower IQ in children of all races. A group of largely African American urban first-grade children and their caregivers were evaluated using self-report, interview, and standardized tests, including IQ tests. The study reported that exposure to violence and trauma-related distress in young children were associated with substantial decrements in IQ and reading achievement. Exposure to Violence or Trauma lead to a 7.5-point (SD, 0.5) decrement in IQ and a 9.8-point (SD, 0.66) decrement in reading achievement.

Violence may have a negative impact on IQ, or IQ may be protective against violence. The causal mechanism and direction of causation is unknown. Neighborhood risk has been related to lower school grades for African-American adolescents in another study from 2006. Violence may also be more prevalent in the homes of parents with lower IQ's. These parents could have genetically produced children with lower IQ's.

Read more about this topic:  Impact Of Health On Intelligence

Famous quotes containing the word stress:

    “While ... we cannot and must not hide our concern for grave world dangers, and while, at the same time, we cannot build walls around ourselves and hide our heads in the sand, we must go forward with all our strength to stress and to strive for international peace. In this effort America must and will protect herself.”
    —Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945)

    “Anyone who wishes to combine domestic responsibilities and paid employment with the least stress and most enjoyment might start by pondering this paradox: the first step to better functioning is to stop blaming herself for not functioning well enough.”
    —Faye J. Crosby (20th century)

    “Like all weak men he laid an exaggerated stress on not changing one’s mind.”
    —W. Somerset Maugham (1874–1966)