Intelligence Quotient » Pratical Importance on IQ
Economic and social correlates of IQ
| Factors |
Correlation |
| School grades and IQ |
0.5 |
| Total years of education and IQ |
0.55 |
| IQ and parental socioeconomic status |
0.33 |
| Job performance and IQ |
0.54 |
| Negative social outcomes and IQ |
-0.2 |
| IQs of identical twins |
0.86 |
| Take same test later |
0.9 |
| IQs of husband and wife |
0.4 |
Research shows that intelligence plays an important role in many
valued life outcomes. In addition to academic success, intelligence
correlates with job performance (see below), socioeconomic advancement
(e.g., level of education, occupation, and income), and "social
pathology" (e.g., adult criminality, poverty, unemployment,
dependence on welfare, children outside of marriage). Recent work
has demonstrated links between intelligence and health, longevity,
and functional literacy. Correlations between g and life outcomes
are pervasive, though IQ and happiness do not correlate. IQ and
g correlate highly with school performance and job performance,
less so with occupational prestige, moderately with income, and
only to a small degree with law-abidingness.
Economic and social correlates of IQ
| IQ |
<75 |
75-90 |
90-110 |
110-125 |
>125 |
| US population distribution |
5 |
20 |
50 |
20 |
5 |
| Married by age 30 |
72 |
81 |
81 |
72 |
67 |
| Out of labor force more than 1 month out of year (men) |
22 |
19 |
15 |
14 |
10 |
| Unemployed more than 1 month out of year (men) |
12 |
10 |
7 |
7 |
2 |
| Divorced in 5 years |
21 |
22 |
23 |
15 |
9 |
| % of children w/ IQ <75 (mothers) |
39 |
17 |
6 |
7 |
- |
| Lives in poverty |
30 |
16 |
6 |
3 |
2 |
| Ever incarcerated (men) |
7 |
7 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
| Chronic welfare recipient (mothers) |
31 |
17 |
8 |
2 |
0 |
| High school dropout |
55 |
35 |
6 |
0.4 |
0 |
| Values are the percentage of each IQ sub-population
fitting each descriptor. Compiled by Gottfredson (1997) from
Herrnstein & Murray (1994) pp. 171, 158, 163, 174, 230,
180, 132, 194, 247-248, 194, 146 respectively. |
|
