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ARTICLES:
Kyung E. Rhee, Julie C. Lumeng, Danielle P. Appugliese, Niko Kaciroti, and Robert H. Bradley
Parenting Styles and Overweight Status in First Grade
Pediatrics 2006; 117: 2047-2054 [Abstract] [Full text] [PDF]
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[Read eLetters] IQ overlooked
John J Ray   (6 June 2006)

IQ overlooked 6 June 2006
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John J Ray,
retired academic
University of NSW

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Re: IQ overlooked

jonjayray{at}hotmail.com John J Ray

As I have had a great deal published on psychological rigidity and authoritarianism, I found this article interesting but lacking in background in those fields. My take on what the research shows is that a general trait of psychological rigidity exists only insofar as it is a byproduct of low IQ -- and psychological rigidity is clearly at work in what the authors studied.

Further: Low IQ people are more likely to get fat and low IQ people tend to be more rigid and have more simplistic approaches to things.

It's IQ that we see at work in the above study. You need to look at WHY some parents treat their children less flexibly.

So: Fat parents tend to have fat children -- mainly for genetic reasons, though not entirely so. So low IQ, fat, rigid parents will tend to have fat children -- which can arise solely from the genetics for fatness that are passed on, not anything at all that the parents do.

Conflict of Interest:

None declared