There is a parallel world in alcohol: intelligence versus anxiety. They both have to do with pressure, and that is why many academics or children with smarts are pulled into a world of drinking.
Research has proven that smart kids crave the ability to be intoxicated or function on an inebriated level due to a state of boredom.
There is also mention of people becoming more tolerant of individuals or groups whose intellect and mind does not operate in a clever way. Pressure also plays a large role in drinking, not social pressure, but the release of using your mind in another outlet. The pressure of being smart all the time leads to an inner anxiety that is released when alcohol is in the system. It manages to calm the brain activity down and allow social interaction without judgement or superiority to occur.
The thirst for alcohol is almost a way to dumb down instead of numbing feelings. It sets up a path of addiction because they have no way of controlling their brain capacity without substance abuse. This leads many to lose control of pacing themselves as the more they drink, the less control they have, allowing them to fit into society. There is an ego attached to alcohol and drug abuse, where some intellectual people believe they are untouchable, so they test themselves to see if their brains will be affected.
Academic children who excelled in everything from studies to sports, hobbies to great family support, fall into the craving for new experience.
There is an expectation for them to constantly succeed because of their backgrounds and others become claustrophobic within themselves not sure as to where they will end up if they fail at all. Overachievers fall prey to abusing alcohol as they try to balance all aspects of life, but end up in routines they don’t feel comfortable in. We see a lot of wealthy smart children grow into mature adults and find it difficult to function in society as they feel detached from the norm.