IQ over 130 and phobia: correlation, consequences and other psychopathologies

Nowadays, anxiety disorders are becoming more and more important in our population. And if there is one category of people more vulnerable to this problem, it is the teenagers. In addition, more and more children and teenagers are diagnosed with an IQ greater than 130, causing all the stress and questions that it generates. In this project, we are comparing two groups of adolescents, one with an IQ over 130, the other with an IQ less than 130. We are wondering if there is any difference between these groups, in terms of phobia and other psychopathologies.

A sample of 35 teenagers, from 12 to 16 years old, separated in two groups (IQ over 130 and IQ below 130), fulfilled the following questionnaires: the School Rehabilitation Assessment Scale-Revised (SARS-R), the "Family Adaptability and Cohesiveness Evaluation Scale III" (FACES III), and the "Kiddie- SADS-lifetime" (K-SADS-PL), and a social data collection questionnaire.

At the end of this study, we can retain the following relevant elements: adolescents with IQs greater than 130 are statistically more likely to be the eldest siblings (Cochran Test F=9.159, p=0.010). They do not develop more phobias, but are more shy (t=4.375, p=0.036) than the control population. These high-potential and shy teenagers have a whole list of commonalities, such as being easily irritable, being easily distracted, ect... They have fewer friends in real life (t=2.255, p=0.033), fewer virtual friends (t=4.346, p=0.000) and fewer virtual relationships (t=2.431, p=0.021). Their families are very cohesive (Test t=0.004). There is no significant role of the socio-professional class of parents playing in the value of the IQ of their children (t=4.667, p=0.323).

To conclude, being a teenager and having an IQ greater than 130 is not always a pleasure. Our results showed us that the majority of these young people consider themselves as shy, unsure of themselves and claim to have many fears. This is evidence of an increased anxiety component compared to the control sample. It seems important to insist on the need to be able and to know how to identify these young people as soon as possible, in order to propose appropriate therapeutic management.