Cognitive style and learning strategies as factors which affect academic achievement of brazilian university students

in the present study, the influence of the cognitive style called field dependence-independence on academic achievement of brazilian university students was explored as well as the mediating effect of learning strategies on that influence. learning strategies of 313 first-year university students (189 women and 124 men; m age = 20.86, sd = 3.86) from different fields, with upper, medium and lower scores on field dependence-independence were assessed on a self-report questionnaire and their overall academic marks in the first year were registered. results of a regression analysis showed that cognitive style and learning strategies significantly contributed to academic achievement. a path analysis revealed that planning strategies mediated the influence of cognitive style on achievement.