Ian J Deary
Biographic Data
| ID | 279395 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Ian J Deary |
| GIVEN NAMES | Ian J |
| FAMILY NAME | Deary |
| SIGNATURE | DEARY I J |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Edinburgh |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-1733-263X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 147 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 382 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 147 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1988 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 11 |
Cognitive dedifferentiation in later life: Longitudinal findings from the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936
The current results have implications for longitudinal g modeling choices: it cannot be assumed that g's composition is the same over time. Future longitudinal research will be important in clarifying the incremental validity, determinants, mechanisms, and implications of cognitive differentiation and dedifferentiation across the lifespan
Associations of personality trait level and change with mortality risk in 11 longitudinal studies
People who are higher in conscientiousness, extraversion, and agreeableness and lower in neuroticism tend to live longer. The present research tested the hypothesis that personality trait change in middle and older adulthood would also be associated with mortality risk, above and beyond personality trait level. Personality trait change may causally influence mortality risk through corresponding changes in health behaviors, social processes, and s…
The genetic landscape of neuro-related proteins in human plasma
Childhood intelligence and risk of depression in later-life: A longitudinal data-linkage study
This study provides additional evidence suggesting that higher childhood intelligence predicts reduced risk of later-life depression only when depression is assessed based on hospital admission records. Childhood family structure and adulthood socio-economic and geographical factors did not seem to be substantial confounders
Childhood cognitive ability and self-harm and suicide in later life
This extends work on cognitive ability and mental health, demonstrating that these associations can span the life course and into middle and older age
Multivariate genetic analysis of personality and cognitive traits reveals abundant pleiotropy
Personality and cognitive function are heritable mental traits whose genetic foundations may be distributed across interconnected brain functions. Previous studies have typically treated these complex mental traits as distinct constructs. We applied the 'pleiotropy-informed' multivariate omnibus statistical test to genome-wide association studies of 35 measures of neuroticism and cognitive function from the UK Biobank (n = 336,993). We identified…
Genome-wide analysis identifies genetic effects on reproductive success and ongoing natural selection at the Fads locus
Polygenic prediction of educational attainment within and between families from genome-wide association analyses in 3 million individuals
We conduct a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of educational attainment (EA) in a sample of ~3 million individuals and identify 3,952 approximately uncorrelated genome-wide-significant single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). A genome-wide polygenic predictor, or polygenic index (PGI), explains 12–16% of EA variance and contributes to risk prediction for ten diseases. Direct effects (i.e., controlling for parental PGIs) explain roughly half th…
Intergenerational Social Mobility and Health in Later Life: Diagonal Reference Models Applied to the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936
This adds to evidence that social mobility does not influence variation in later-life health once other factors-including socioeconomic origins and destinations-are accounted for
On Lindsay Paterson: Discipline, Method or Field? The Place of Education in the Social Sciences
This article is the first of two relating to an event at the University of Edinburgh to mark the coming retirement of Lindsay Paterson, Professor of Education Policy. Here three of Paterson’s close colleagues outline the very substantial contribution he has made to the study of Scotland, to understanding social inequality, and measuring the contribution of education to social mobility
Identification of 371 genetic variants for age at first sex and birth linked to externalising behaviour
Intelligence, health and death
Age-Related Changes of Peak Width Skeletonized Mean Diffusivity (PSMD) Across the Adult Lifespan: A Multi-Cohort Study
Parameters of water diffusion in white matter derived from diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI), such as fractional anisotropy (FA), mean, axial, and radial diffusivity (MD, AD, and RD), and more recently, peak width of skeletonized mean diffusivity (PSMD), have been proposed as potential markers of normal and pathological brain ageing. However, their relative evolution over the entire adult lifespan in healthy individuals remains partly unknown duri…
Physical frailty and decline in general and specific cognitive abilities: The Lothian Birth Cohort 1936
BACKGROUND: Physical frailty is associated with many adverse outcomes including disability, chronic disease, hospitalisation, institutionalisation and death. It is unclear what impact it might have on the rate of normal cognitive ageing. We investigated whether physical frailty was related to initial level of, and change in, cognitive abilities from age 70 to 79 years. METHOD: Participants were 950 members of the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936. Physic…
Attitudes to ageing, biomarkers of ageing and mortality: The Lothian Birth Cohort 1936
OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether people with more positive attitudes to ageing are biologically younger as defined by leucocyte telomere length, accelerated DNA methylation GrimAge (AgeAccelGrim) and brain-predicted age difference, and whether these biomarkers explain relationships between attitudes to ageing and mortality. METHODS: We used linear regression to examine cross-sectionally attitudes to ageing (measured using the Attitudes to Ageing…
Genome-wide association study identifies 48 common genetic variants associated with handedness
Handedness has been extensively studied because of its relationship with language and the over-representation of left-handers in some neurodevelopmental disorders. Using data from the UK Biobank, 23andMe and the International Handedness Consortium, we conducted a genome-wide association meta-analysis of handedness (N = 1,766,671). We found 41 loci associated (P < 5 × 10−8) with left-handedness and 7 associated with ambidexterity. Tissue-enrichmen…
Intelligence: A Very Short Introduction
A general dimension of genetic sharing across diverse cognitive traits inferred from molecular data
Genome-wide meta-analysis of depression identifies 102 independent variants and highlights the importance of the prefrontal brain regions
Early-life predictors of retirement decisions and post-retirement health
It remains unclear whether retirement circumstances are associated with better or worse post-retirement health. This is partly due to confounding between measures of retirement circumstances and a tendency to account only for covariates around retirement age. The present study examined the contributions of both retirement age and retirement type, independently, to post-retirement health around age 77 years. It also examined whether these contribu…
Brain Peak Width of Skeletonized Mean Diffusivity (PSMD) and Cognitive Function in Later Life
It is suggested that the brain's peak width of skeletonized water mean diffusivity (PSMD) is a neuro-biomarker of processing speed, an important aspect of cognitive aging. We tested whether PSMD is more strongly correlated with processing speed than with other cognitive domains, and more strongly than other structural brain MRI indices. Participants were 731 Lothian Birth Cohort 1936 members, mean age = 73 years (SD = 0.7); analytical sample was …
Association Between the Activity Space Exposure to Parks in Childhood and Adolescence and Cognitive Aging in Later Life
The exposure to green space in early life may support better cognitive aging in later life. However, this exposure is usually measured using the residential location alone. This disregards the exposure to green spaces in places frequented during daily activities (i.e., the 'activity space'). Overlooking the multiple locations visited by an individual over the course of a day is likely to result in poor estimation of the environmental exposure and…
Playing Analog Games Is Associated With Reduced Declines in Cognitive Function: A 68-Year Longitudinal Cohort Study
Playing games were associated with less relative cognitive decline from age 11 to age 70, and less cognitive decline from age 70 to 79. Controlling for age 11 cognitive function and other confounders, these findings suggest that playing more games is linked to reduced lifetime decline in cognitive function
Association of change in cognitive function from early adulthood to middle age with risk of cause-specific mortality: The Vietnam Experience Study
BACKGROUND: Studies with single baseline measurements of cognitive function consistently reveal inverse relationships with mortality risk. The relation of change in functioning, particularly from early in the life course, which may offer additional insights into causality, has not, to the best of our knowledge, been tested. AIMS: To examine the association of change in cognition between late adolescence and middle age with cause-specific mortalit…
Genomic structural equation modelling provides insights into the multivariate genetic architecture of complex traits
Green space and cognitive ageing: A retrospective life course analysis in the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936
International evidence suggests that green space has beneficial effects on general and mental health but little is known about how lifetime exposure to green space influences cognitive ageing. Employing a novel longitudinal life course approach, we examined the association between lifetime availability of public parks and cognitive ageing. Lifetime residential information was gathered from the participants of the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936 using a…
The Impact of Childhood Intelligence on Later Life: Following Up the Scottish Mental Surveys of 1932 and 1947
The Scottish Mental Surveys of 1932 and 1947 collected valid IQ-type test scores for almost everyone born in 1921 and 1936 and attending school on June 1, 1932 (N=89,498) and June 4, 1947 (N=70,805). These surveys are described. This research, using the surveys' data, examined (a) the stability of intelligence differences across the life span, (b) the determinants of cognitive change from childhood to old age, and (c) the impact of childhood inte…
Life course of place: A longitudinal study of mental health and place
A multitude of studies have demonstrated that individual circumstances throughout life influence subsequent health and well‐being outcomes. The life‐course perspective emphasises that health is affected by the accumulation of social and economic (dis)advantages over an individual's life but, importantly, also that there can be critical periods where the effects of exposure can be greater. Yet few researchers have applied a life‐course perspective…
Genomic structural equation modelling provides insights into the multivariate genetic architecture of complex traits
Mental ability across childhood in relation to risk factors for premature mortality in adult life: The 1970 British Cohort Study
OBJECTIVE: To examine the relation of scores on tests of mental ability across childhood with established risk factors for premature mortality at the age of 30 years. METHODS: A prospective cohort study based on members of the British Cohort Study born in Great Britain in 1970 who had complete data on IQ scores at five (N = 8203) or 10 (N = 8171) years of age and risk factors at age 30 years. RESULTS: In sex-adjusted analyses, higher IQ score at …
Intergenerational social mobility and subjective wellbeing in later life
Childhood IQ and cardiovascular disease in adulthood: Prospective observational study linking the Scottish Mental Survey 1932 and the Midspan studies
Attitudes and Values of Scottish Farmers: Yeoman' and 'Entrepreneur' as Factors, Not Distinct Types1
We investigate the validity of the classification of farmers into two or more distinct types on the basis of attitudes, objectives, and values. Factor analysis of data from a survey of farm pluriactivity in Scotland (N=472) shows that attributes ascribed to 'yeoman' and 'entrepreneur' types emerge as separate factors rather than as a single bipolar factor. No clustering of the factor scores corresponding to distinct types is found. We also presen…
Childhood IQ and life course socioeconomic position in relation to alcohol induced hangovers in adulthood: The Aberdeen children of the 1950s study: Table 1
Objective: To examine the association between scores on IQ tests in childhood and alcohol induced hangovers in middle aged men and women. Design, Setting, and Participants: A cohort of 12 150 people born in Aberdeen (Scotland) who took part in a school based survey in 1962 when IQ test scores were extracted from educational records. Between 2000 and 2003, 7184 (64%) responded to questionnaire inquiries regarding drinking behaviour. Main outcome m…
IQ in late adolescence/early adulthood, risk factors in middle age and later all-cause mortality in men: The Vietnam Experience Study
OBJECTIVE: To examine the role of potential mediating factors in explaining the IQ-mortality relation. DESIGN, SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: A total of 4316 male former Vietnam-era US army personnel with IQ test results at entry into the service in late adolescence/early adulthood in the 1960/1970s (mean age at entry 20.4 years) participated in a telephone survey and medical examination in middle age (mean age 38.3 years) in 1985-6. They were then fo…
Cognitive function trajectories and their determinants in older people: 8 Years of follow-up in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing
BACKGROUND: Maintaining cognitive function is an important aspect of healthy ageing. In this study, we examined age trajectories of cognitive decline in a large nationally representative sample of older people in England. We explored the factors that influence such decline and whether these differed by gender. METHODS: Latent growth curve modelling was used to explore age-specific changes, and influences on them, in an 8-year period in memory, ex…
Identification of 371 genetic variants for age at first sex and birth linked to externalising behaviour
Childhood IQ in relation to risk factors for premature mortality in middle-aged persons: The Aberdeen Children of the 1950s study
Objective: A series of studies have shown an association between high childhood IQ scores and reduced rates of total mortality in adulthood. Several mechanisms have been advanced to explain these relationships, including mediation via established risk factors. This study examines the association between childhood IQ and a range of established physiological and behavioural risk factors for premature mortality in adulthood. Design, setting and part…
Early life predictors of childhood intelligence: Evidence from the Aberdeen children of the 1950s study
Objective: To identify the early life predictors of childhood intelligence. Design: Cohort study of 10 424 children who were born in Aberdeen (Scotland) between 1950 and 1956. Results: Social class of father around the time of birth, gravidity, maternal age, maternal physical condition, whether the child was born outside of marriage, prematurity, intrauterine growth, and childhood height were all independently associated with childhood intelligen…
Childhood Mental Ability and Adult Alcohol Intake and Alcohol Problems: The 1970 British Cohort Study
Objectives. We examined the potential relation of mental ability test scores at age 10 years with alcohol problems and alcohol intake at age 30 years. Methods. We used data from a prospective observational study involving 8170 members of a birth cohort from Great Britain born in 1970. Data included mental ability scores at age 10 years and responses to inquiries about alcohol intake and problems at age 30 years. Results. After adjustment for pote…
Sex differences in Cognitive Abilities Test scores: A UK national picture
BACKGROUND AND AIMS: There is uncertainty about the extent or even existence of sex differences in the mean and variability of reasoning test scores ( Jensen, 1998; Lynn, 1994, ; Mackintosh, 1996). This paper analyses the Cognitive Abilities Test (CAT) scores of a large and representative sample of UK pupils to determine the extent of any sex differences. SAMPLE: A nationally representative UK sample of over 320,000 school pupils aged 11-12 years…
Intelligence, health and death
Intelligence and socioeconomic position in childhood in relation to frailty and cumulative allostatic load in later life: The Lothian Birth Cohort 1936
BACKGROUND: Information on childhood determinants of frailty or allostatic load in later life is sparse. We investigated whether lower intelligence and greater socioeconomic disadvantage in childhood increased the risk of frailty and higher allostatic load, and explored the mediating roles of adult socioeconomic position, educational attainment and health behaviours. METHODS: Participants were 876 members of the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936 whose in…
Auditory inspection time and intelligence: What is the direction of causation
Inspection time (IT) is an index of speed of perceptual processing that correlates at moderate levels with tests of mental ability. A key issue has been the question of the direction of causation: is IT causal to individual differences in intellectual ability, or is a fast IT a consequence of having a high IQ? The direction of causation was assessed by administering auditory inspection time (AIT) tests and tests of verbal and nonverbal ability to…
Lifecourse Activity Participation From Early, Mid, and Later Adulthood as Determinants of Cognitive Aging: The Lothian Birth Cohort 1921
The findings support a lifecourse approach in identifying determinants of cognitive aging; leisure and physical activity during different periods of adulthood may enhance cognitive abilities or reduce decline
On the street where you live: Neighbourhood deprivation and quality of life among community-dwelling older people in Edinburgh, Scotland
Cognitive epidemiology
This glossary provides a guide to some concepts, findings and issues of discussion in the new field of research in which intelligence test scores are associated with mortality and morbidity. Intelligence tests are devised and studied by differential psychologists. Some of the major concepts in differential psychology are explained, especially those regarding cognitive ability testing. Some aspects of IQ (intelligence) tests are described and some…
Is education associated with improvements in general cognitive ability, or in specific skills
Previous research has indicated that education influences cognitive development, but it is unclear what, precisely, is being improved. Here, we tested whether education is associated with cognitive test score improvements via domain-general effects on general cognitive ability (g), or via domain-specific effects on particular cognitive skills. We conducted structural equation modeling on data from a large (n = 1,091), longitudinal sample, with a …
Neuroticism and Extraversion in youth predict mental wellbeing and life satisfaction 40 years later
Correlates of personality trait levels and their changes in very old age: The Lothian Birth Cohort 1921
Prospects for the biology of human intelligence
Covert psychiatric disturbance in patients with globus pharyngis
There is currently little agreement concerning the aetiology of globus pharyngis (néc hystericus), and both physical and psychological factors have been suggested as primary causes of this common disorder. Using validated research questionnaires we tested the hypothesis that there is significant psychiatric morbidity in female globus patients but not in males. One hundred and twenty‐one globus patients (90F, 31M) were tested on the Crown‐Crisp Ex…
Does Perceptual Intake Speed Reflect Intelligent Use of Feedback in an Inspection-Time Task? The Effect of Restricted Feedback
To examine whether the development of effective strategies during inspection time (IT) required active learning processes, we gave subjects an IT task involving false feedback. This IT task (ADIT) started at an exposure duration of 20 ms and gradually increased until subjects could reliably discriminate IT stimuli. False feedback about correctness of discrimination was introduced to make the ADIT task particularly difficult for individuals who we…
Hostile personality and risks of peripheral arterial disease in the general population
The relationships between personality and risks of coronary heart disease have been studied widely, but little attention has been paid to other forms of atherosclerotic disease. The objective of this study was to determine relationships in the general population between hostile personality and Type A behavior pattern with asymptomatic and symptomatic chronic peripheral arterial disease. The Edinburgh Artery Study comprises a cross-sectional rando…
Age-Associated Memory Impairment: A Suitable Case for Treatment
The provisional criteria for age-associated memory impairment (AAMI) attempt to define a potentially treatable decline in mental function found in people over 50 years of age. It is suggested here that the present criteria are likely to apply to a large proportion of those over age 50 in the population. From a psychometric viewpoint the criteria have several short-comings that are detailed. Finally, the social and ethical problems of the wider us…
Changes in mood during acute hypoglycemia in healthy participants
Acute hypoglycemia provides a reproducible method of investigating the effect of biological changes induced during hypoglycemia on mood states. Hypoglycemia was induced twice using a hyperinsulinemic glucose clamp in 24 nondiabetic human participants; a euglycemic placebo control study was also performed. Serial changes in mood were assessed using the UWIST Mood Adjective Checklist before, during, and after 60 min of controlled hypoglycemia (2.5 …
Auditory inspection time and intelligence: What is the direction of causation
Inspection time (IT) is an index of speed of perceptual processing that correlates at moderate levels with tests of mental ability. A key issue has been the question of the direction of causation: is IT causal to individual differences in intellectual ability, or is a fast IT a consequence of having a high IQ? The direction of causation was assessed by administering auditory inspection time (AIT) tests and tests of verbal and nonverbal ability to…
Reductionism and intelligence: The case of inspection time
Successes in science tend to be successful attempts at reduction and causal interaction. The reduction of the interaction of bodies to the laws of motion and the reduction of chemical phenomena to elements and their interactions are good examples. In these cases reductionism leads to observed phenomena being explained by a relatively small number of basic concepts and the laws which govern the interaction of the concepts. The spectrum of inquiry …
Personality and Stress in Consultant Psychiatrists
A randomly selected group of consultant psychiatrists (n = 39) working within the NHS in Scotland was compared with a combined group of physicians and surgeons (n = 149) on several variables related to the stress process, including personality traits, coping strategies, psychological distress, burnout, job stress and work demands. Psychiatrists reported fewer clinical work demands (p
Intelligence and inspection time: Achievements, prospects, and problems
Ian J. Deary Con Stough I I The purpose of this article is to introduce the inspection- time measure to the wider psychological community. In- spection time is, to date, the only single information- processing index that accounts for approximately 20% of intelligence-test variance. We argue that inspection time, because of its much-replicated correlation with 1Q and its potential for theoretical tractability, has more potential for our understand…
A (latent) Big Five personality model in 1915? A reanalysis of Webb's data
In 1915 Edward Webb, working under Charles Spearman at University College London, reported a study of personality trait ratings of 194 trainee teachers. The original report found a single personality factor, which Webb named Persistence of Motives or w. Subsequent partial reanalyses and reinterpretations of Webb's data are reviewed and are found to be misleading. The quality of Webb's data is high; 2 raters assessed every student, and the raters'…
Models of job-related stress and personal achievement among consultant doctors
The antecedents and outcomes of feelings of job-related stress and personal achievement were studied in a large sample of consultant doctors working in Scotland. In a sample of 333 doctors it was found that a tendency to use emotion-oriented coping strategies and negative appraisals of organizational changes in the practice of medicine mediated the effect of the personality dimension of Neuroticism on reported job stress. Job stress levels predic…
Attitudes and Values of Scottish Farmers: Yeoman' and 'Entrepreneur' as Factors, Not Distinct Types1
We investigate the validity of the classification of farmers into two or more distinct types on the basis of attitudes, objectives, and values. Factor analysis of data from a survey of farm pluriactivity in Scotland (N=472) shows that attributes ascribed to 'yeoman' and 'entrepreneur' types emerge as separate factors rather than as a single bipolar factor. No clustering of the factor scores corresponding to distinct types is found. We also presen…
Looking down on human intelligence
Ian J. Deary's new book is about the biology of individual differences in intelligence. He views psychometrics - the measurement and statistical study of psychological traits, such as intelligence - as being between social variables (such as school attainment, income, accident rates, etc.) and the biology of the brain, with each field building on a base of knowledge from the lower levels. From psychometrics one can look upwards at applications of…
Looking down on human intelligence
Hostility, cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption in the general population
Personality traits and personality disorders
The structure of personality disorder traits was examined in a sample of 400 undergraduates who completed the personality disorder questionnaire from the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R (SCID-II). The relations between personality disorder and normal personality traits indexed by the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire-Revised (EPQ-R) were examined. The three-cluster model of personality traits-as described in the DSM scheme-found equiv…
The Role of Attitudes and Objectives in Farmer Decision Making: Business and Environmentally‐Oriented Behaviour in Scotland
Despite considerable effort to understand and represent decision making by farmers, there has been little attempt to integrate socio‐economic, psychological and farming variables within a comprehensive framework. This paper attempts to do this in the context of two types of farming behaviour ‐ business and environmental ‐for a sample of over 200 Scottish farmers. Using variables covering their attitudes, objectives and behaviours relevant to many…
Farmers' Attitudes, Objectives, Behaviors, and Personality Traits: The Edinburgh Study of Decision Making on Farms
Personality and Social Predictors of Atherosclerotic Progression: Edinburgh Artery Study
OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to determine whether personality traits and social factors predict the progression of peripheral atherosclerosis. Progression was assessed using the objective, noninvasive ankle brachial pressure index (ABPI). METHODS: In the Edinburgh Artery Study, 1592 men and women were randomly sampled from the general population, and their ABPI was measured at baseline and at the end of a 5-year follow-up period. A low AB…
Testing versus understanding human intelligence
Intelligence may be studied in 2 distinct ways, using a psychometric or a biological approach. The psychometric approach is focused on the assessment of a person's level of mental ability and documents individual differences between people in mental abilities. Biological studies seek those brain functions that cause individual differences in human mental abilities. The lack of overlap between these approaches means that it is unclear what the sco…
Testing versus understanding human intelligence
Longitudinal cohort study of childhood IQ and survival up to age 76
Objectives: To test the association between childhood IQ and mortality over the normal human lifespan. Design: Longitudinal cohort study. Setting: Aberdeen. Subjects: All 2792 children in Aberdeen born in 1921 and attending school on 1 June 1932 who sat a mental ability test as part of the Scottish mental survey 1932. Main outcome measure: Survival at 1 January 1997. Results: 79.9% (2230) of the sample was traced. Childhood mental ability was pos…
Individual differences in cognition: British contributions over a century
Research on individual differences in mental abilities is discussed from three viewpoints: the psychometric structure of ability differences, the predictive validity of mental test scores, and some putative causes of psychometric intelligence differences in terms of psychometric and cognitive components and biological indices. A hierarchical descriptive structure for mental ability differences, as it emerged in the 1980s and 1990s, prominently di…
Personality Traits
This second edition of the bestselling textbook Personality Traits is an essential text for students doing courses in personality psychology and individual differences. The authors have updated the volume throughout, incorporating the latest research in the field, and added three new chapters on personality across the lifespan, health and applications of personality assessment. Personality research has been transformed by recent advances in our u…
Psychology (109 works) · Medicine (90 works) · Cognition (57 works) · Psychiatry (57 works) · Developmental psychology (53 works) · Cognitive Abilities and Testing (51 works) · Demography (51 works) · Gerontology (49 works) · Internal Medicine (38 works) · Cohort (37 works)