Working Memory and Executive Functions in monolingual and bilingual preschoolers: The role of the socio-economic status

Research on bilingualism showed mixed results about performance on cognitive tasks in preschoolers, and only few studies also considered children's socioeconomic status. This study aims at (i) investigating the difference between monolingual and bilingual preschoolers concerning socioeconomic status in the Italian context; (ii) investigating the difference between monolinguals and bilinguals concerning performance on working memory and executive functions tasks, and (iii) verifying the difference between monolinguals and bilinguals on working memory and executive functions tasks, also controlling for socioeconomic status. A large battery of working memory and executive functions tasks was administered to 91 typically developing children (M-age= 64 months; 44 monolinguals and 47 bilinguals). Findings reported higher socioeconomic status in monolinguals; furthermore, results showed that the monolingual group outperformed the bilingual group on some cognitive tasks administered. However, when performance of monolinguals and bilinguals was controlled for socioeconomic status, no significant difference emerged, and most effect sizes were indeed negligible.