A Scoping Review of Bilingualism, Socioeconomic Status and Executive Function Development in Children and Adolescents: Implications for Educational Practice and Research

Socioeconomic status (SES) strongly predicts children’s executive-function (EF) performance and academic achievement. Although findings remain inconsistent, bilingualism has been proposed as a potential moderator of SES-related differences. This scoping review systematically maps evidence on bilingualism, SES, and the three core EFs (inhibition, working memory, and cognitive flexibility) in children and adolescents. Following PRISMA-ScR guidelines, five databases were searched without publication-date restrictions on 9 February 2026, with a supplementary search on 17 September 2026. Eligible studies were peer-reviewed empirical articles examining bilingual participants aged 17 years or younger, including a monolingual comparison group, interpretable measures of SES and at least one core EF. Data were charted using a review-specific form by one author and checked by another. Thirty-nine studies published between 2007 and 2026 were included. Findings were highly heterogeneous. Inhibition was the most frequently examined EF and yielded comparatively more reports of bilingual advantages than the other domains. Working-memory findings were predominantly null, while cognitive flexibility was less extensively investigated and produced mostly null or mixed evidence. Rather than supporting a universal bilingual advantage, the findings suggest that EF outcomes depend on bilingual experience, SES, developmental stage, and task variability. Longitudinal research using multidimensional measures of bilingualism and SES is needed to clarify the possible role of bilingualism in reducing educational inequalities.