Attention and social problems are uniquely associated with academic achievement beyond overall psychopathology: multicohort replication in 3,800 participants

J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2026 May 19. doi: 10.1111/jcpp.70168. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Understanding which specific behavioral and emotional problems are uniquely associated with achievement and thus potential targets for developing educational interventions.

METHODS: Child Behavior Checklist syndrome scales and standardized measures of mathematics and reading achievement were analyzed using structural equation modeling in a community California cohort (N = 252) and the clinically diverse Healthy Brain Network cohort (N = 3,583).

RESULTS: Attention and social problems were uniquely associated with lower achievement beyond overall psychopathology levels defined by the covariances among syndrome scores. Attention problems were consistently related to poorer mathematics and reading achievement across clinical status, development, and sex. Social problems showed age- and sex-specific patterns and were associated with lower achievement throughout development for girls but only during adolescence for boys. Models examining achievement-to-psychopathology relationships resulted in poorer fits than psychopathology-to-achievement models in typically developing children and adolescents. However, bidirectional relationships emerged in clinical samples, particularly between attention problems and mathematics achievement and between social problems and reading achievement.

CONCLUSIONS: Specific behavioral problems, rather than overall psychopathology, are consistently associated with academic difficulties. Educational screening and interventions should prioritize attention regulation across all developmental stages and implement sex-differentiated social skill support, beginning earlier for girls and during adolescence for boys. These findings replicate across independent samples, demonstrating robust relationships with direct implications for school-based educational and mental health services.

PMID:42153376 | DOI:10.1111/jcpp.70168