In one of the few studies assessing the link between
intellect and suicide, researchers from Sweden's Karolinska
Institute found that men who had the lowest scores were
three times more likely to take their own life.
"There is a strong inverse association between intelligence
test scores and suicide," Finn Rasmussen, an associate
professor at the institute, said in the report published
in the British Medical Journal.
He and his colleagues analyzed test scores of 987,308
Swedish men when they entered the military and recorded
the number of suicides among them over 26 years.
Nearly 3,000 took their own lives.
"Better performance on the tests was associated with
a reduced risk of suicide," he added.
Because of the large sample they studied and the strong
association, it is unlikely that the results are due
to chance.
The researchers suggested that poor test scores could
be associated with depression and schizophrenia -- two
disorders that contribute to suicide.
It is also possible that people with low intelligence
are less able to deal with their problems and may consider
suicide as a solution. Low scorers could have suffered
from behavioral problems as children which could also
have contributed to suicide risk.
Rasmussen and his team called for more detailed studies
to investigate the possible underlying reasons for suicide.
