IAS Distinguished Lecture: IQ, Gender, and Mortality in the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study

 

Prof. Robert Hauser, a renowned sociologist of University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA was invited to give a presentation on the study of IQ, Gender, and Mortality in the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study on August 3, 2010 at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. This was the first IAS distinguished lecture on inequality and poverty.  Prof Hauser is Vilas Research Professor of Sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and directors of the Center for Demography of Health and Aging. He has been an investigator on the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (WLS) since 1969. The abstract of the IAS distinguished lecture is shown as below:

Numerous studies find a positive relationship between cognitive ability, IQ as measured in childhood or youth, and subsequent survival. Explanations range from the idea that low ability is an indicator of adverse systemic events in early life to the idea that high cognitive functioning is required continuously to maintain health and reduce threats to survival. The Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (WLS) has followed a large cohort of Wisconsin high school seniors from ages 18 to 69. As expected, in the WLS survival varies positively with adolescent IQ.

However, rank in high school class -- a cumulative measure of successful work throughout secondary schooling -- accounts completely for the relationship between IQ and survival, and it has a much larger effect on survival than does IQ. These findings suggest that cognitive functioning improves survival by promoting behaviours that boost health status, minimize exposure to known risks and optimize returns to health producing inputs, and that such behaviours are firmly in place by late adolescence. These findings may also have broader implications for the emphasis placed on test scores as key measures of educational outcomes.

香港科技大學很榮幸邀請了威斯康星大學麥迪遜分校著名的社會學家Prof. Robert Hauser於2010年8月3日到本校來演講。這是IAS傑出講座─不平等和貧困系列中的第一個講座。演題是「威斯康星縱向研究(WLS)：智商，性別和死亡率」Prof. Hauser是威斯康星大學麥迪遜分校社會學教授、健康和老齡人口研究中心主任。自1969年以來，他一直是WLS 的主要研究者。演講內容摘要如下：

許多研究發現認知能力與童年、青年時期和往後日子的智商之間有正相關。不同的解釋包括低能力是早年生活的一個不好的指標，優秀的認知能力是保持健康和生存的必要條件等等。威斯康星縱向研究（WLS）跟蹤了威斯康星州的中學生50多年，從18歲跟蹤到69歲。正如所料，WLS研究同樣發現青少年時的智商與其生命長短有正相關。

然而，中學成績排名 - 整個中學讀書成功與否的累積指標，能完全解釋智商與生存之間的關係，而且比起智商，它對生存有更大的影響。這些發現表明認知能力改善生命、促進健康生活、和減少風險，這種能力和行為早在青春期後期之前就已形成了。這研究對教育政策有很大的啟發，考試分數也是其中一個教育成果的指標。