The Correlation between IQ Scores and Bad Behavior in Children

Bad behavior is something that almost every parent dreads having to deal with. Ironically it is the one thing that without a doubt every parent will have to deal with at some point in the raising of their children. There are many causes of bad behavior among children, some of it can be accredited to the normal “growing pains” that every child goes through. Sometimes though there are deeper origins for the undesirable behavior that your child is exhibiting. Some of the worst behavior reported is in children with either extremely high or low IQ scores. We are going to take a brief look at each end of the spectrum, examining some of the reasons for this type of behavior.

Behavior and gifted children

Children that have high IQ scores (normally 130 or above) have been reported to act out in one form or another. These are the same children that regularly exhibit hyperactivity, large vocabularies, advanced reasoning skills for their age and the ability to interact with adults at an advanced level. These children act out for various reasons, some of the most common reasons include boredom (because they are far ahead of their classmates), restlessness (often being overstimulated these children do not get as much sleep as they need) and introversion (when a child is academically more intelligent than classmates they often have a hard time making friends and interacting in a healthy manner with children their own age).

Behavior and low IQ

On the other end of the spectrum children with exceptionally low IQ scores are also more prone to misbehavior. Though no less serious than that of a child with a higher IQ often times these children simply do not understand the rules that they are faced with daily. Further imagine if you will, not being able understand what you are supposed to be learning, regardless of how hard you try. This would be extremely frustrating and it is not shocking that it often leads to behavioral problems in children.

By using this site you agree to our terms and conditions. The Open Forest website is medical in nature and thus, may include health or medical information. This content is posted for informational and educational purposes only. Open Forest in no way engages in the practice of medicine and does not render medical advice. We do not provide asynchronous telemental health services or any other medical service. Nothing posted on Open Forest is intended to be used for the purposes of medical diagnosis or treatment. The use of Open Forest does not create a provider/patient relationship between a user and Open Forest. Users must always seek the advice of their physician or another qualified healthcare professional with medical questions. Users must agree to contact their healthcare professional or an emergency medical service, by dialing 911 when they believe they are experiencing a medical emergency.