What is the relationship between IQ and education?

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IQ is positively related to education. We measured education by asking participants to report on three things: their a) highest level of education, b) high-school GPA, c) college GPA. IQ was positively related with all three education variables and the magnitude of these correlations was r = .19 (n = 3688) for level of education, r = 0.21 (n = 3173) for high-school GPA and r = 0.04 (n = 3205) for college GPA. Therefore, it seems that IQ is important for general level of education one obtains during the lifetime and for GPA in high-school, but not so much for GPA in college (though the lower correlation with college GPA might, in part, be due to range restriction - college students are more similar to each other in IQ, on average, than members of the general population). Here are the scatterplots of these correlations:

What do the other studies say?

Research consistently shows a positive relationship between IQ and educational outcomes. A meta-analysis found that education improves cognitive abilities by 1-5 IQ points per year of schooling, with effects persisting across the lifespan (Ritchie & Tucker-Drob, 2018). IQ is also a significant predictor of academic performance, with a moderate positive correlation (r = 0.367) observed across multiple studies (Lozano-Blasco et al., 2022). 

Takeaways

• IQ is related to highest level of education obtained, as well as with high-school GPA

• However, its relationship with college GPA is substantially lower

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