Unpacking the Roles of Metacognition and Theory of Mind in Turkish Undergraduate Students' Academic Achievement: A Test of Two Mediation Models

This study investigated the relationships among metacognition, theory of mind, and academic achievement using self-report measures. Cross-sectional data were collected from 198 Turkish undergraduate students majoring in early childhood education in a public university. Two mediation models were tested to investigate the roles of theory of mind and metacognition in academic achievement. The results demonstrated that (1) metacognition played a role in explaining the relation between theory of mind and academic achievement, and (2) theory of mind played a role in explaining the relation between metacognition and academic achievement. This study contributes to research in two important ways. Firstly, we have shown that metacognition and theory of mind significantly predicted academic achievement. Secondly, both metacognition and theory of mind can be regarded as partial mediators in explaining the relations among these constructs that are linked to academic achievement. Educational implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.