Development level of executive functions in adolescent students of public schools in envigado - Colombia

Abstract

The Executive Functions (FE in Spanish) allow the cognitive, affective and behavioral activity control. They are influenced by multiple factors such as the sociocultural and academic environment, and parent education as well. Objective: to identify the current state of the development of the Executive Functions in teenagers from public educational institutions in Envigado city (Colombia). Method: the study was quantitative, descriptive, and transversal. A random sample of 280 senior secondary-school students in Envigado (Colombia) was taken, the instrument used was the Neuro-psychological Battery of Executive Functions (BANFE in Spanish) (Flores Lázaro, Ostrosky-Solís, & Lozano Gutiérrez, 2014). As well, Saber 11 Test results were compared with corpus due to the fact this test assesses Colombian students´ academic performance. Results: more than a half of the sample evidenced minor or severe alterations in FE dorsolateral and global FE, and some meaningful statistically differences between man and women in these components (p<0,05) were found. Equally, it was determined a meaningful statistics correlation among Saber test score, Dorsolateral executive function (p<0,001) and global FE (p<0,001). Conclusion: 65,7% of the subjects showed a low performance level in FE tests, involving academic skills.