Anxiety, Working Memory, and Academic Achievement in Neurodivergent and Neurotypical Children: A Preliminary Study

Background/objectives

Anxiety is highly prevalent amongst neurodivergent children, yet little research has examined how anxiety relates to academic achievement in neurodivergent students, nor how working memory, a key cognitive predictor of achievement, is concurrently associated across neurotypes. This cross-sectional study aimed to provide a preliminary investigation into the associations between anxiety, working memory and academic achievement in reading and mathematics in a sample of neurodivergent and neurotypical children. Understanding these relationships is important in both child mental health and educational contexts, as anxiety may influence how neurodivergent children engage with and perform on cognitive and achievement tasks.