There are supporting but also critical empirical findings on the thesis that multilingualism can promote cognitive development. In addition to numerous problems of empirical testing (e.g., sample and selection effects, specification and operationalization of the cognitive processes and functions concerned), one difficulty in the study of this hypothesis could also be that often only short-term periods and only just directly involved cognitive functions are examined. If, however, multilingualism should promote cognitive flexibility (e.g. mediated by cognitive processes of the central executive), this should also be reflected in the fact that completely different cognitive processes in later life that are based on such abilities benefit from appropriate promotion. This applies, for example, to self-regulatory processes based on cognitive flexibility skills. However, such relationships have not yet been empirically investigated. Accordingly, the present study first examines the hypothesis that adult self-regulatory coping processes (i.e., accommodative adaptation of goals postulated within the framework of the two-process model of developmental regulation) are more pronounced in multilingual individuals. If the Hypothesis is correct, especially persons whose multilingualism was developed in early stages of life and whose cognitive flexibility was therefore promoted early should show this correlation more strongly. Secondly, it is examined whether this connection is mediated by cognitive flexibility by resorting to two operationalizations that have been used in relevant studies (i.e., Stroop task; flanker task). The findings of a cross-sectional study (N= 119, Age: 19-79) show that there is indeed a significant relationship between multilingualism and flexible self-regulation (r=.26, p< .01). The postulated mediated effect, on the other hand, could not be statistically verified. Since the expected main effect has been found, methodological problems with the reliable assessment of cognitive flexibility could possibly explain the missing mediated effect. In sum, the present results support the notion that multilingualism might contribute to long-term cognitive benefits.
