18-21 Ya Grubu Bireylerin Genel Zeka Düzeyleri le Psikolojik Semptom Dü- zeyleri Aras ndaki li ki (The Relation between General Intelligence Levels and Psychological Symptom Levels of Adolescents)

Purpose: Researchers have stated that high intelligence might bring about psycho-logical problems. The purpose of this study was to investigate relationships be-tween general intelligence and some psychological symptoms.Method: Research participants included 73 students who were either university students in their first year or preparing for university. Their age ranged from 18 to 21 with a mean of 19,93. Female participants constituted 42,5% of the total and male participants included 57,5% of the total. The Raven’s Advanced Progressive Matrices (RAPM) and the Psychological Symptoms Scanning Scale-90-R were used to collect data. The former was used to measure the participants’ general intelli-gence while the latter was used to measure their psychological symptoms. Meas-urement instruments were administered to the participants in their classrooms. Data analysis included correlational analysis between general intelligence scores and psychological symptom scores. Results: Findings showed that correlations between general intelligence scores and psychological symptom scores for the total sample ranged from -0,04 to -0,29, respectively. Anger score had the lowest correlation with general intelligence and the sensibility score had the highest correlation with general intelligence. Total psychological symptom scores had a correlation of -0,23 with general intelligence scores. Other psychological symptom scores also had negative correlations with general intelligence scores. General intelligence scores had a correlation of -,27 with obsessive compulsive disorder, -,24 with somatization, -,18 with depression, -,23 with anxiety, -,24 with phobia, -,09 with paranoid tendency, and -,16 with psikotism. Conclusions: Research findings show that in general, as general intelligence level increases, the level of psychological symptom decreases and as general intelli-gence level decreases, the level of psychological symptom increases. However, when data was analyzed by participants’ parents’ gender, the pattern of relation-ship becomes positive. That is, correlations between general intelligence scores and psychological symptom scores among participants with mothers (n = 15) who had university or higher education become positive. Similar findings were ob-tained when data was analyzed by fathers’ educational levels. Correlations range from .10 to .78. In conclusion, as parents’ educational level increases, correlations between general intelligence and psychological symptoms of their children be-come negative. However, it should be noted that the number of sample is rather