Research has demonstrated a strong association between self-regulation, in particular executive function (EF), and academic achievement in children. There is evidence suggesting that anxiety, common among children and adolescents, is associated with poor academic achievement and academic failure. Although results from studies with adults indicate that trait anxiety and self-regulation are related, less attention has been given to examining this relation among adolescents. The goals of this study were to examine the associations among EF, trait anxiety and academic achievement and to test the mediating role of EF on the relation between trait anxiety and academic achievement among adolescents. A sample of 174 sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-grade students (M age = 12.78, SD = 1.18) were recruited from middle schools and summer programs in Florida. Students completed measures of working memory (WM), inhibitory control (IC), shifting (SH), trait anxiety, and reading and math skills. Confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to determine the best fitting structure of EF. Mediational analyses were conducted to examine the indirect effects of EF on the relation between trait anxiety and each academic outcome. A two-factor model of EF (WM and combined IC and SH) provided the best fit to the data. The Trait Anxiety factor was positively related to both EF factors but there was no difference in the strength of the associations. WM mediated the relation between Trait Anxiety and academic outcomes. The findings suggest that trait anxiety may enhance WM, which could lead to improvements in academic achievement in adolescents.

研究表明，自我调节，特别是执行功能（EF）与儿童的学业成绩之间存在很强的联系。有证据表明，儿童和青少年中普遍存在的焦虑与学习成绩差和学习失败有关。尽管对成年人的研究结果表明，特质焦虑和自我调节是相关的，但很少关注青少年之间的这种关系。这项研究的目的是检查EF，特质焦虑与学业成就之间的关联，并测试EF在青少年特质焦虑与学业成就之间的中介作用。174名六年级，七年级和八年级学生的样本（M年龄= 12.78，SD = 1.18）是从佛罗里达州的中学和暑期课程招募的。学生完成了工作记忆（WM），抑制性控制（IC），移动（SH），性格焦虑以及阅读和数学技能的测量。进行验证性因素分析以确定EF的最佳拟合结构。进行了中介分析，以检查EF对特质焦虑与每项学业成绩之间关系的间接影响。EF的两因素模型（WM以及IC和SH的组合）最适合数据。特质焦虑因子与两种EF因子均呈正相关，但关联强度无差异。WM介导了特质焦虑与学业成绩之间的关系。研究结果表明，特质焦虑可能会增强WM，这可能会导致青少年学业成绩的提高。