Preschool behavior and first-grade school achievement: The mediational role of cognitive self-control.

The purpose of this study was to test a model of school achievement that included childrens intellectual abilities, preschool behavior, and cognitive self-control. It suggested that teacher-rated preschool behavior such as aggressive, anxious-withdrawn, and prosocial behaviors influence cognitive self-control, which in turn positively determines school achievement at the end of first grade (when controlling for intellectual bilities). Participants were 291 kindergarten children. Results from structural equation modeling demonstrated that all hypothesized path models were significant, except the one between anxious-withdrawn behavior and cognitive self-control. A second model was thus specified in which a path between anxious-withdrawn behavior and school achievement was estimated. The second model offered a better representation f the sample data (comparative fit index =.99, normormed fit index =.98), ×2(19, N = 286) = 29.43, p.05, and the path between anxious-withdrawn behavior and school achievement was found significant. The role of preschool behavior and cognitive self-control in first-grade school achievement is discussed. There is a consensus that childrens uccessful school transition from kindergarten tothe first grade is particularly important because childrens grades in the first years of school substantially affect subsequent achievement trajecto-