The contribution of executive functioning to academic achievement among male adolescents

Abstract

Recent factor analytic work suggests that the dimensions of conceptual flexibility, monitoring, and inhibition are distinguishable under the executive functioning (EF) umbrella. We examine relations between these constructs and performances on academic achievement tests among a sample of 11–16-year-old males (N = 151). EF contributed to the prediction of all academic domains beyond general intellectual functioning in distinct ways: Conceptual flexibility predicted reading and science, monitoring predicted reading and social studies, and inhibition predicted mathematics and science. These findings suggest that demands related to specific academic domains access different cognitive abilities and have implications for both intervention and research science.

Keywords:

• Executive functioning
• Academic achievement
• Conceptual flexibility
• Monitoring
• Inhibition

This research was supported, in part, by the University of Minnesota Press, the American Psychology-Law Society, the American Academy of Forensic Psychology, and the Carl E. Seashore Dissertation Year Fellowship awarded to Robert D. Latzman. Special thanks to Bryce Carithers, Jodie Lewis, Brittany Neef, Sarah Stellern, and Ann Twohig for assistance with data collection.