Cognitive, emotional, and socio-cultural factors: influences on the academic achievement in second and fifth graders

Several researches on both adults (Ackerman, Beier & Boyle, 2005) and children (de Abreu, Conway & Gathercole, 2010), show links between working memory (WM) and level of intelligence. Furthermore, these constructs are strictly related to the academic achievement (Alloway & Passolunghi, 2011). WM and intelligence are considered the main cognitive predictors of the scholastic success, but the educational outcomes are also influenced by the socio-familiar background (Murdaca & Nuzzaci, 2015) and anxiety, particularly that experienced while carrying out arithmetic tasks (Caponi, Cornoldi, Falco, Focchiatti & Lucangeli, 2012). The aim of this research was to identify if and on what extent that the cognitive, emotional and socio-cultural factors affect the academic achievement, considering different developmental phases. Two groups of participants were involved in the study: 60 second graders (mean age about 7) and 70 fifth graders (mean age about 10). In the first step of data collection, assorted tests for WM and level of intelligence were administered. In the second one, questionnaires for investigating both math anxiety and socio-familiar background were presented to the participants. Lastly, the National Evaluation System tests on math and Italian were given to both groups. The data obtained were analysed by means of correlations and multiple-regression analysis models. The results suggest that the cognitive variables mainly affect the performances of scholastic learning tests in the second graders, whereas the socio-cultural and emotional factors principally influence scholastic outcomes of the fifth graders