中国科学院行为科学重点实验室知识库

This study employed meta-analytic structural equation modelling (MASEM) to investigate the role of cool executive function (EF) as a mediator in the relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and children's academic achievement. We analysed data from 70 empirical articles including a total of 58,818 students published before November 2023 and observed that EF plays a partial mediating role in the relationship between SES and academic achievement, with a significant indirect effect (b = 0.083). The longitudinal subsample also showed a partial mediating effect. Furthermore, moderator analyses revealed that the indirect effect of EF tended to decrease with age. This study highlights the importance of EF in narrowing the SES-achievement gap and emphasizes the development of EF in early childhood. Educational relevance statement: Whether socioeconomic status indirectly affects children's academic achievement by influencing their executive function has been a controversial topic. This study confirmed this mechanism by integrating previous inconsistent findings through a meta-analytic structural equation modelling approach. The findings not only clarify the mechanism theoretically, but also practically alert policymakers, teachers, and parents to pay attention to executive function and thus help disadvantaged children improve their academic achievement.