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Pathways to school and life success : relations of executive functions to academic achievement and well-being in adolescence

University of British Columbia

Executive functions (EFs) are required for goal-oriented behavior, and comprise three core areas: inhibition, working memory, and cognitive flexibility. EFs form the basis for higher-order cognitive skills (e.g., planning, reasoning, and problem solving). Previous research has shown that EFs as measured in young children reliably predict academic, occupational, and life success. Less is known about the relations of EFs measured in early adolescence to indicators of academic success and well-being in late adolescence. In a framework put forth by Diamond (2012), participation in programs that foster EFs and contain components that promote EFs (e.g., social support) will lead to improvements in EFs and academic achievement. Previous research has found support for this; however, this study was the first to examine EFs in relation to both program participation as well as EF promotive factors within a single sample of adolescents across time. The study aims were (1) to investigate longitudinal relations of EFs in early and late adolescence to academic achievement (i.e., GPA) and well-being (i.e., satisfaction with life and depressive symptoms) in late adolescence; (2) to explore relative contributions of factors that support or hinder EFs in early adolescence to EFs, academic achievement, and well-being in late adolescence; (3) to investigate the relative contribution of students’ participation in school-based activities to EFs, academic achievement, and well-being in late adolescence. As such, the study hypothesized that EFs and the factors that affect them (EF-supportive, EF-promotive, and activity participation) would be positively associated with EFs, academic achievement, and satisfaction with life, and negatively associated with depressive symptoms. Using multiple methods and sources, data were collected at two time points from 65 students; first when they were in the fourth and fifth grades, and again when they were followed up eight years later in the eleventh and twelfth grades. Results indicated that EFs, the factors that support them, and the factors that hinder them negatively predict GPA eight years later. No other statistically significant findings emerged. Findings are discussed in relation to extant theoretical and empirical research in this area and directions for future research are put forth.

Text

2020-05-01

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/74263

Human Development, Learning, and Culture

University of British Columbia

UBCV

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/