REVIEW article
Front. Dev. Psychol.
Sec. Cognitive Development
Volume 3 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fdpys.2025.1604485
This article is part of the Research TopicInsights and Future Directions in Cognitive DevelopmentView all 5 articles
Academic Achievement and Socio-Economic Status: A Review Within Context-Specific Models of Executive Function
Provisionally accepted
- Sacred Heart University, Fairfield, United States
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Executive function (EF) has traditionally been conceptualized as domain-general cognitive processes that support goal-directed thought and behavior. However, recent Context-Specific models suggest that EF emerges through goal-directed assemblies of processes (e.g., beliefs, language, and content knowledge) and emphasize training EF within the same contexts it is used in applied settings. This framework also provides novel insights on the impacts of environmental factors, including socio-economic status, on EF, related academic skills, and other developmental outcomes. The present narrative review examines context-specific associations among EF, socio-economic status, and academic achievement, detailing how these theories account for the mediating role of EF among these variables. Further, I review interventions informed by these models, discussing implications for students and teachers within low-income districts.
Keywords: Executive Function, socio-economic status, Academic Achievement, Education, cognitive development
Received: 01 Apr 2025; Accepted: 22 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Bryant. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Lauren Jean Bryant, Sacred Heart University, Fairfield, United States
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