Executive Functions and Self- Esteem in Academic Performance: A Mediational Analysis

Objective: Once the paradigm of intelligence as the only predictor of academic performance has been overcome, the influence of other variables, such as reasoning, verbal fluency, executive functions, motivation and self-esteem, was studied. Method: For this purpose, an exploratory and incidental research design was used in a sample of 132 subjects aged 6-9 years. Different instruments were administered: RAVEN, Effective Reading, Brief II, MAPE II, and Coopersmith Scale, respectively. Results: The results indicate that the predictive model formed by reasoning, verbal fluency, executive functions, and self-esteem explains 55.4% of the academic results. As mediating variables, self-esteem emerges as a predictor of both cognitive and motivational variables, and executive functions, as a predictor of emotional and motivational variables. Discussion: This implies theoretical and practical implications of an educational nature with practical implications in primary school classrooms, in order to implement plans to develop self-esteem and executive functions.