Modeling the Relationship Among Reading Comprehension, Intelligence, Socioeconomic Status, and Neuropsychological Functions: The Mediating Role of Executive Functions Helena Vellinho Corso Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul Jennifer G. Cromley University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Tania Sperb and Jerusa Fumagalli Salles Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul Prior research on the effects of socioeconomic status (SES) and intelligence on reading comprehension has considered only the direct effects of these predictors. However, both theory and empirical research suggest that variables such as working memory, attention, and response inhibition—all components of executive function—may medi- ate the effects of SES and nonverbal intelligence on reading comprehension. In the present study, we use test norming data from 110 Brazilian children in 4th through 6th grades to test various measurement models for executive function and to test a structural model in which executive function and nonverbal IQ or both partially or fully mediate the effects of SES on reading comprehension. The best-fitting measurement model suggested a single executive function factor. We then test structural models that include partial and full mediation of the effects of SES on reading comprehension. Effects of SES were fully mediated by executive function. Furthermore, nonverbal IQ had no effect on reading comprehension. We close with implications for improving malleable executive function skills— especially in low-SES populations—as a means to improve reading comprehension and thereby improve academic achievement. Keywords: executive function, reading comprehension, socioeconomic status, intelligence, working memory There appears to be a consensus in the liter- ature regarding the multiplicity of perceptual, cognitive, and linguistic processes comprising reading comprehension (Kintsch, 1988, 1998; Johnston, Barnes, & Desrochers, 2008). Numer- ous language and cognitive abilities, such as inference skills and vocabulary, interact with each other to determine reading comprehension level so that a single underlying source of poor comprehension is unlikely. There are many dif- ferent aspects of the reading process in which difficulties may arise (Cain & Oakhill, 2006). One of these cognitive abilities is executive function; in the present research, we examine the extent to which executive function mediates the well-known role of socioeconomic status (SES) on reading comprehension. This is im- portant because executive function is a mallea- ble factor, and if it mediates effects of SES, then interventions to improve executive function could help close SES-based achievement gaps in reading. Studies have documented the role of execu- tive function on reading comprehension, and many of these studies use a theoretical frame- work that falls under the umbrella of neuropsy- chology. Students with specific reading compre- hension deficits, when compared with typically developing students and students with a more general reading disability, show significantly This article was published Online First February 4, 2016. Helena Vellinho Corso, Instituto de Psicologia, Univer- sidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul; Jennifer G. Cromley, Department of Educational Psychology, University of Illi- nois Urbana-Champaign; Tania Sperb and Jerusa Fumagalli Salles, Instituto de Psicologia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul. Correspondence concerning this article should be ad- dressed to Jennifer G. Cromley, Department of Educational Psychology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 10D Education Building, MC-708, 1310 South Sixth Street, Champaign, IL 61820. E-mail: jcromley@illinois.edu This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers. This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly. Psychology & Neuroscience © 2016 American Psychological Association 2016, Vol. 9, No. 1, 32– 45 1983-3288/16/$12.00 http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/pne0000036 32