A Theory-Driven Approach to Understanding Individual Differences in Bilingualism and Executive Functioning: Beyond a General Advantage.

The study of bilingualism has increasingly embraced modeling approaches that account for individual differences, reflecting a broader shift toward capturing the complexity of the bilingual experience. However, this shift demands greater consensus on the use of valid and reliable measures, adequately diverse samples, and theory-driven analytical strategies. Without such standards, modeling risks generating theoretically incoherent yet statistically well-fitting models that lack interpretability. In the present article, we conduct a theory-driven examination of recently published data to model bilingualism effects for executive functions. The results revealed that when appropriate theoretical, methodological, and measurement standards were applied, significant, albeit small, effects of bilingualism on executive function emerged, even in a largely homogeneous sample. These findings underscore the need to strengthen research on bilingual individual differences to better understand potential multivariate effects throughout the lifespan and their implications for cognition, aging, and society. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).