The aim of the study was to examine whether cognitive skills are related to persistence. Thus, children's (N = 157, mean age: 5.9 years) persistent and non-persistent behaviours (i.e., cheating and off-task) were assessed in an unsolvable task. Additionally, we assessed children's executive functions and temperament. Analysis for persistence showed that cognitive inhibition and cognitive flexibility predicted children's persistent behaviour, beyond age and temperament. Analyses for non-persistent behaviours revealed that temperament and weak executive functions predicted cheating, while age predicted off-task behaviour. Statement of contributionWhat is already known on this subject?So far, persistence has been conceptualized as a temperamental sub-dimension of self-regulation. What does this study add?A child's persistence depends not only on temperament but also on cognitive inhibition and cognitive flexibility.There are qualitative differences between the two non-persistent behaviours cheating and off-task. While cheating is related to weaker cognitive skills, off-task behaviour seems mainly age-related.Some children persist in the face of a challenge, others do not. Why this might be is largely unknown. The aim of the present study was to approach this question by (1) examining factors possibly related to persistence and (2) examining non-persistent behaviours in relation to persistence. So far, persistence has been conceptualized as a temperamentally based sub-dimension of self-regulation (Rothbart, Ahadi, Hershey, & Fisher, 2001). Although separate lines of evidence favour the hypothesis that also cognitive skills could be related to persistence (see, e.g., Barkley, 1997;Cuevas & Bell, 2014;Zelazo, 2015), no study has systematically analysed whether executive functions (EFs), that is, inhibition, shifting, and working memory (Miyake et al., 2000), were related to persistence. Without questioning the temperamental aspect of persistence, we aimed to examine a possible relation between EF and persistence.

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The aim of the present study was to examine age effects and schooling effects on task persistence. Four‐ and 5‐year‐old (N = 120) kindergarten children were observed while working on a persistence task. Since children attend kindergarten for 2 years in Switzerland, age and schooling effects could be examined in a cut‐off research design. To examine age effects, task performance was compared between 4‐ and 5‐year‐olds, all enrolled in their first kindergarten year. To address schooling effects, performance between 5‐year‐olds enrolled in their first vs. 5‐year‐olds enrolled in their second kindergarten year was compared. Age differences were found for two different persistence measures. No effect was found for schooling. Overall, the present results suggest that 1 year of formal kindergarten schooling, as a structuring environmental factor, does not affect the ability to persist. Age and inhibitory skills, however, do.

It is unknown how multiple components of on-task regulation of learning affect task performance in school children. This research aimed to acquire insights into the interrelations between children's metacognitive monitoring, regulation of learning, and task performance. Three components of on-task regulation of learning were investigated: allocation of study time, restudy selections, and task persistence. Children learned concepts with their definitions. In Study 1, 104 sixth graders (Mage 12 years) participated; Study 2 consisted of 97 fourth graders (Mage 10 years). For both age groups, task persistence was a strong predictor of performance. For sixth but not for fourth graders, monitoring accuracy affected performance. Findings indicate that, when aiming to improve regulation of learning and task performance in elementary school, student age is a relevant factor to consider. Around the age of 10, regulation affects learning performance, whereas the effects of self-monitoring accuracy on performance seem apparent when children are approximately 12 years of age.

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