Early life predictors of intelligence in young adulthood and middle age

BACKGROUND:Studies on early predictors of intelligence often focus on single or few predictors and often on childhood intelligence. This study compared the contributions of a broad selection of potential early predictors of intelligence at different adult ages. METHODS:Information on predictors was recorded prospectively in the Copenhagen Perinatal Cohort during pregnancy, at delivery, and at 1- and 3-year examinations for children born between 1959-61. Adult intelligence was assessed at three independent follow-ups using three different tests of intelligence: Børge Priens Prøve, Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, and Intelligenz-Struktur-Test 2000R. From a total of 4697 cohort members, three non-overlapping samples were derived. RESULTS:The included predictors explained between 22.2-24.3% of the variance in adult IQ, with parental socioeconomic status and sex explaining 16.2-17.0%. Other consistent predictors were head circumference at birth, increase in head circumference head during the first three years, and 3-year milestones. Head circumference was the most important anthropometric measure compared to measures of weight and length. CONCLUSION:Besides social status and sex, the strongest and most consistent early predictors of adult intelligence were physical or behavioural characteristics that to some extent reflect brain-and cognitive development

An association of adult personality with prenatal and early postnatal growth: the EPQ lie-scale

BACKGROUND: Recent studies have noted differences in social acquiescence and interpersonal relations among adults born preterm or with very low birth weight compared to full term adults. In addition, birth weight has been observed to be negatively correlated with lie-scale scores in two studies. We attempted to replicate and extend these studies by examining young adult lie-scale scores in a Danish birth cohort. METHOD: Weight, length and head circumference of 9125 children from the Copenhagen Perinatal Cohort were measured at birth and at 1, 3 and 6 years. A subsample comprising 1182 individuals participated in a follow-up at 20–34 years and was administered the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) which includes a lie-scale (indicating social acquiescence or self-insight). Associations between lie-scale scores and weight, length and head circumference respectively were analysed by multiple linear regression adjusting for single-mother status, parity, mother’s age, father’s age, parental social status, age at EPQ measurement, intelligence, and adult size. RESULTS: Male infants with lower weight, length, and head-circumference at birth and the following three years grew up to have higher scores on the lie-scale as young adults. Most of these associations remained significant after adjustment for the included covariates. No associations were found for females. Analyses were also conducted with neuroticism, extraversion and psychoticism as outcome variables, but no significant associations were found for these traits after adjustment. CONCLUSIONS: The findings replicate and extend findings from previous studies suggesting that size at birth and during the first three years of life is significantly associated with social acquiescence in adult men. They highlight the potential influence of prenatal and early postnatal development on personality growth and development

Sense of Coherence and Physical Health. A Cross-Sectional Study Using a New Scale (SOC II)

In this study, we constructed a new sense of coherence scale (SOC II), where we eliminated the notion of predictability (that life is meant to be predictable), which was present in the original SOC scale developed by Aaron Antonovsky (19231994) (SOC-29 and SOC-13). Our hypothesis was that SOC II would show a higher degree of association with physical health than the original SOC scale. In order to test this idea, we used a cross-sectional study including 4,648 Danes and used the three different health measures: self-evaluated physical health, physical symptoms, and self-evaluated psychological health. We found that SOC II was positively associated with all three health measures with the correlation coefficients 0.338, 0.282, and 0.578, respectively. Furthermore, we found dose response tendencies for all three health measures across groups of SOC, since health improved with a higher SOC. By means of regression analysis, we found that SOC was significantly associated with all three health measures after stratifying for demographic variables, life style variables, life form variables, and attitude variables, respectively. We conclude from this study that the SOC II scale we developed seems better associated with physical health than found with the original SOC scale. We also postulate that the concept of predictability was irrelevant, or even disturbing, and should not be included in the SOC scale

Clinical Holistic Medicine: A Pilot Study on HIV and Quality of Life and a Suggested Cure for HIV and AIDS

This study was undertaken to examine the association between the immunological impact of HIV (measured by CD4 count) and global self-assessed quality of life (QOL) (measured with QOL1) for people suffering from HIV, to see if the connection was large and statistically strong enough to support our hypothesis of a strong QOL-immunological connection through the nonspecific, nonreceptor-mediated immune system, and thus to give a rationale for a holistic cure for HIV. This cross-sectional population study in Uganda included 20 HIV infected persons with no symptoms of AIDS and a CD4 count above 200 mill./liter. The main outcome measures were CD4 count, global QOL measured with the validated questionnaire QOL1, translated to Luganda and translated back to English. We found a large, clinically significant correlation between the number of T-helper cells (CD4) and global self-assessed quality of life (QOL1) (r = 0.57, p = 0.021), when controlled for age, gender, and years of infection. Together with other studies and holistic medicine theory, the results have given rationale for a holistic cure for HIV. We suggest, based on our findings and theoretical considerations, that HIV patients who improve their global QOL, also will improve their CD4 counts. Using the technique of holistic medicine based on the life mission theory and the holistic process theory of healing, we hypothesize that the improvement of QOL can have sufficient biological effect on the CD4, which could avoid or postpone the development of AIDS. A holistic HIV/AIDS cure improving the QOL draws on hidden resources in the person and is thus affordable for everybody. Improving global QOL also means a higher consciousness and a more ethical attitude, making it more difficult for the HIV-infected person to pass on the infection

Associations of Personality with Body Mass Index and Obesity in a Large Late Midlife Community Sample

Objective: The study examined cross-sectional associations of personality with BMI and obesity among men and women in a large late midlife community sample. Methods: The sample comprised 5,286 Danish individuals aged 49-63 years from the Copenhagen Ageing and Midlife Biobank (CAMB) with complete information on measured BMI, personality assessed by the NEO Five Factor Inventory (NEO FFI), and sociodemographic factors including sex, age and educational length. Analysis of variance and logistic regression models were used to investigate associations between personality and BMI as well as obesity. Personality traits were analyzed separately and combined in the same model. Results: All personality traits except for neuroticism were significantly associated with BMI, with extraversion (p value ranged from Conclusion: Personality was significantly associated with BMI and to a lesser extent with obesity, and these associations differed between men and women. Also, it was suggested that the interrelations of the five personality traits should be considered in future research of personality and health outcomes