Executive function, emotion regulation and working memory in Students with and without anxiety.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to compare executive function, emotional regulation and Working memory in students with and without anxiety. The present study was descriptive and used a causal-comparative design. The population of the study consisted of all sixth grade male elementary students in Varamin in academic year 2017-2018. A sample of 150 students (75 students with anxiety And 75 students without anxiety) gathered by Cluster random sampling and participated in a causal- comparative study. In order to diagnose Anxiety disorder, an executive function test was first taken. Both groups of students were Matched in terms of intelligence, parental education, age and gender. The data were collected through the Coolidge Executive Functioning Questionnaire (2002), the Garnfsky Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (2002), the Daneman & Carpenter Working Memory Questionnaire (1980), and the Reynolds & Richmond Manifest Anxiety Scale (1987). Independent t-test and multivariate analysis of variance were used to analyze the data. The Findings showed that Students with anxiety have lower mean scores in executive function test than students without anxiety and the difference is statistically significant (t =- 5.51, df = 59, sig = 0.001). Findings also showed that the mean scores in refocusing / planning strategies, positive evaluation and acceptance (components for emotional regulation) in the group without anxiety is higher than with anxiety and other strategies in the group with anxiety are higher than the group without anxiety. Finally, the different mean score for working memory (t = 0.84, df = 59, sig = 0.4) in the two groups (students with and without anxiety) was not significant. high anxiety is more likely to result in problems for executive functions, emotional regulation and working memory. Considering above mentioned finding, it seems that in order to increase the physical, mental and social health of students, executive functions and cognitive emotion regulation strategies training is absolutely essential.

Keywords

• cognitive emotional regulation
• working memory
• executive function