Relationship between Academic Performance and the Self-Report of the Executive Performance of Ecuadorian Teenagers

Abstract

This article reports research findings from a study that analyzed the relationship between executive functions and academic performance of a sample of 250 high school students from Quito, Ecuador. The measures used consisted of the scale to evaluate efeco executive functions in the self-report format and the academic performance of the last academic year of the students. Two statistical analyses were conducted, the first one, correlational, suggested that the executive functions cognitive flexibility (r=-0.18, p<0.01), organization of materials (r=-0.15, p<0.01), monitoring (r=-0.22, p<0.01), initiative (r=-0.24, p<0.01), working memory (r=-0.28, p<0.01) and planning (r=-0.25, p<0.01), have a significant relationship inversely proportional to academic performance (the higher the deficit in executive functions are, the lower the academic performance is). Secondly, we performed a multiple regression analysis, considering executive functions as predictors of academic performance F(6.241)=4,96, p<0.001. The percentage of variance that executive functions explained about academic achievement (r2 =0.11) is related to previous interventions and project research for training executive functions to improve academic achievement of high school students.