Childhood mental ability and smoking cessation in adulthood: prospective observational study linking the Scottish Mental Survey 1932 and the Midspan studies.

Education, childhood IQ, and occupational social class are associated with mortality and morbidity. One possible cause of these associations is via their impact on health behaviours such as smoking. Less educated people are more likely to continue smoking, but smoking is more strongly related to occupational social class than to education. Childhood IQ is related to education and occupational social class. Here we investigate whether mental ability at age 11 is associated with stopping smoking in adulthood.