Are health and happiness the product of wisdom? The relationship of general mental ability to educational and occupational attainment, health, and well-being.
This study tested a structural model explaining the effects of general mental ability on economic, physical, and subjective well-being. A model was proposed that linked general mental ability to well-being using education, unhealthy behaviors (smoking and excessive drinking), occupational prestige, and health as mediating variables. The sample consisted of 398 individuals, from whom measures were collected across 4 periods. The results supported a model that includes direct and indirect (through unhealthy behaviors and occupational prestige) links from mental ability to physical well-being (i.e., health) and economic well-being. Furthermore, the results supported the relationships of economic well-being and physical well-being to subjective well-being. Overall, the study underscores the importance of general mental ability to work and nonwork outcomes, including physical, economic, and psychological well-being.
Judge
Timothy A
TA
Department of Management, Warrington College of Business, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32606, USA. timothy.judge@warrington.ufl.edu
Ilies
Remus
R
Dimotakis
Nikolaos
N
D000124:Achievement; D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D006240:Happiness; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007360:Intelligence; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health; D008875:Middle Aged; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014427:Twins / Q000235:genetics*