The purposes of this research were: 1) to study the level of executive thinking and life skills of lower secondary school students at Banglamung School; 2) to examine the relationship between executive thinking and life skills; and 3) to assess the impact of executive thinking on the life skills of lower secondary school students at Banglamung School, Chonburi Province. The sample group consisted of 291 lower secondary school students who were studying in the second semester of the academic year 2023 at Banglamung School. A stratified random sampling method was used to select the participants. The research instruments used for data collection included: 1) an Executive Thinking Assessment, which had an index of item-objective congruence (IOC) ranging from 0.67 to 1.00 and a reliability coefficient (Cronbach’s alpha) of 0.956; and 2) a Life Skills Assessment, which had an IOC ranging from 0.67 to 1.00, a reliability coefficient of 0.832, and item discrimination power ranging from 0.274 to 0.636. The statistical methods employed for data analysis included frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation (SD), Pearson's product-moment correlation coefficient, and multiple regression analysis.

The research findings were as follows: 1) The students' executive function demonstrated a high level (𝑥̅=3.89, SD=0.46). The area with the most developed executive function skills was self-monitoring and evaluation (𝑥̅=4.29, SD=0.57); followed by initiative and flexibility in thinking (𝑥̅=4.03, SD=0.60) and finally, working memory (𝑥̅=3.53, SD=0.65). 2) The students' life skills were rated as very high (𝑥̅=4.23, SD=0.47). The area with the highest life skills was awareness and appreciation of oneself and others (𝑥̅=4.35, SD=0.50); followed by human relations and interpersonal communication (𝑥̅=4.29, SD=0.62); and the lowest was analytical thinking, decision-making, and creative problem-solving (𝑥̅=4.14, SD=0.59). 3) Hypothesis testing results revealed: 3.1) a positive relationship between executive function and life skills of lower secondary school students at Banglamung School, Chonburi Province, which was statistically significant at the .01 level, indicating a strong relationship (rxy = .725, p < .01); and 3.2) executive function accounted for 59 percent of the variance in life skills among these students (R² = 0.590).

Keywords: Executive function, life skills, lower secondary school

Nipaphon Codman is affiliated with the Psychology for Human Potential Development program at Kasem Bundit University, Thailand. Her work focuses on advancing psychological understanding and fostering human potential through research and academic engagement.