Socioemotional and Cognitive Skills: Its Relation to School Performance in Elementary School

Abstract Several constructs shown as good predictors of school performance. However, previous studies have focused only on a part of these predictors, making it difficult to understand their interaction to predict school performance. This study verified the associations (correlations), predictions (linear regressions), and relationship dynamics (network analysis) of variables (intelligence, EI, personality, and executive functions) that predict school performance (Portuguese, mathematics, and general) in children and adolescents in the elementary education. In total, 133 students were submitted to instruments to assess the predictive abilities and performance measures included in this study. Regression analyses showed emotional intelligence and abstract reasoning as the main positive predictors of school performance, and the agreeableness/openness trait as a positive predictor of overall performance and mathematics. The results corroborated by centrality indicators estimated through network analyses. This study advances when considering several variables concurrently.