Emotional Control and Executive Functions of Student in the Transition to the Junior Secondary Stage of Basic School

Abstract

Parallel development of executive functions and self-regulation skills play an important role in social adaptation during the transition to the junior secondary stage of basic school. This paper deals with interrelations of executive functions and emotional control. These relationships are not yet sufficiently clarified and are thus the subject of many discussions in professional circles. Attention is also paid here to gender differences in executive functions. The research sample consisted of 54 pupils (33 girls and 21 boys) with a mean age of 9.4 years. Within the concept of executive functions, the paper focuses on the level of inhibition, switching, verbal and figural fluency and working memory. The Delis - Kaplan Executive Function System (D - KEFS) test battery by the authors Delis et al., (2001), and the intelligence scales Woodcock - Johnson International Edition (WJ - IE Slovak Edition) by the authors Ruef et al., 2001 were administered to examine these functions. Emotional control was measured by a BRIEF questionnaire based on evaluation of the pupils by their teachers. The hypotheses were confirmed only partially. On the one hand, a significant correlation was found between the emotional control of pupils, according to evaluation by their teachers, and executive functions (intercorrelations ranging from r =.21 tor = .25). On the other hand though, the significance of the relationship was not confirmed by the regression analysis. Gender differences in the observed executive functions were not confirmed either. Results are discussed here in relation to the assessment of pupils from the general population using the BRIEF questionnaire and to the given age of the children.