Abstract
Various psychiatric disorders are associated with reductions in fluid intelligence — the ability to solve new problems without using prior learned knowledge. Researchers found that there were stronger associations between fluid intelligence reductions and current disorders than with past disorders, suggesting it is the active symptoms of psychiatric disorders that interfere with cognitive functioning. They recommend that early identification and treatment of children in school settings will help promote academic achievement and long‐term success in people with psychiatric disorders. For the study, the researchers used a national sample of adolescents from the National Comorbidity Survey Replication — Adolescent Supplement, collected from 2001 through 2004. DSM‐IV mental disorders were assessed with the World Health Organization Composite International Diagnostic Interview, and included a broad range of fear, distress, behavior, substance use, and other disorders. Disorder severity was measured with the Sheehan Disability Scale. Fluid IQ measured with the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test, normed within the sample by 6‐month age groups. There were 10,073 adolescents (mean age: 15.2 years; 49.0% female) with data on fluid intelligence. Lower mean IQ was observed among adolescents with past‐year bipolar disorder, attention‐deficit hyperactivity disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, conduct disorder, substance use disorders, and specific phobia. Intelligence was not associated with post‐traumatic stress disorder, eating disorders, and anxiety disorders other than specific phobia, and was positively associated with past‐year major depression. Higher disorder severity, across disorders, was associated with lower fluid intelligence. [Keyes KM, Platt J, Kaufman AS, McLaughlin KA. Association of fluid intelligence and psychiatric disorders in a population‐representative sample of US adolescents. JAMA Psychiatry 2016 Dec 28. doi: 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2016.3723. Epub ahead of print.]
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