Observational studyBMC psychology2024
Do executive functions and processing speed mediate the relationship between socioeconomic status and educational achievement? Analysis of an observational birth cohort study.
Observational study in BMC psychology, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- A systematic bibliometric and meta analysis of key factors and emerging AI and ML insights in shaping child cognitive development.Discover mental health · 2025Review
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThere are large and persistent social inequalities in children's educational attainment, with children from more socioeconomically disadvantaged families consistently having lower attainment. Despite this being widely reported, the mechanisms underlying the association between socioeconomic disadvantage and educational attainment are not well understood. It is important to understand the potential mechanisms by which socioeconomic disadvantage may impede on educational outcomes, as this knowledge could then be used to help target possible interventions to improve educational outcomes for socioeconomically disadvantaged children. Children's executive functions (including working memory and inhibition) and processing speed abilities may underlie these inequalities, however, the previous literature regarding this is limited. This study examined longitudinal mediating mechanisms between socioeconomic status (SES) and educational achievement, using a socioeconomically deprived and ethnically diverse cohort.
methodsData from the Born in Bradford longitudinal cohort study was analysed using Structural Equation Modelling (n = 4201; 28% White British, 56% Pakistani heritage, 16% Other; 54% Female). SES was measured before birth, executive functions and processing speed were measured in middle childhood (M
resultsExecutive functions significantly mediated the association between SES and educational achievement (B = 0.109), whilst processing speed did not. Examination of executive function components revealed that working memory significantly mediated the associated between SES and educational achievement (B = 0.100), whilst inhibition did not. Working memory appeared to account for a large proportion (39%) of the total effect of SES on educational achievement.
conclusionsThese results, and the theoretical mechanisms linking working memory to educational achievement, both indicate the importance of finding ways to support children with working memory difficulties in the classroom. This is an important avenue for future research and may be useful for closing the socioeconomic gap in educational achievement.
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